Tampa Bay Rays to promote Jacob Faria

Mark Topkin has reported, via Twitter, that Jacob Faria has been called up to the Rays and is likely to make his major league debut in Wednesday’s game.

Both Matt Andriese’s injury and the Saturday double header have created the need for starting pitching help, and Faria’s strong performance at Durham has earned him the call up.

The 23 years old Faria was drafted out of high school in the 10^th round of the 2011 draft.

He has worked his way steadily through the Rays system, making the move to AAA midway through 2016, remaining somewhat under the radar in his early years.

He has gotten more attention in the last two years, rising to 8th among Rays prospects coming into 2017. His current season has further elevated his prospect stock. This year in Durham he has a 3.07 ERA, and has struck out 84 batters in just 58 innings, garnering more attention. For example, this profile in Baseball America notes that his increased lower body power has given him better velocity and more crispness to his breaking stuff.

His arsenal includes a 91-93mph fastball and, according to Baseball America, “a cutter-slider hybrid in the high 80s, a split-changeup and a 12-to-6 curveball in the mid 70s.”

Faria’s off-season changes have certainly paid off as the young righty has increased his strikeout rate exponentially. Last season with Bulls, Faria struck out around 23% of opposing hitters. So far in 2017, that number has risen to almost 35% while he’s faced just 34 less hitters this season.

The move hasn’t been confirmed by the team just yet as they’re likely to wait until tomorrow to formally promote Faria and make a corresponding roster move. If the Rays to indeed promote Faria, he’ll be slated to start tomorrow night’s game against the Chicago White Sox.