Who is New Twins Pitcher Jake Faria?

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

The Minnesota Twins announced a couple of minor league signings Wednesday evening in addition to the signing of right-handed pitcher Dylan Bundy to a major league deal. Returning will be lefty reliever Danny Coulombe who appeared in 29 games for the Twins last summer and was recently non-tendered. But perhaps the more intriguing of the two is the arrival of right-hander Jake Faria.

Jake Faria was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 10th round of the 2011 draft and spent the first 40 games of his big league career — spread across the 2017-19 seasons — in St. Petersburg. The Rays shipped him to Milwaukee in exchange for Jesus Aguilar at the 2019 trade deadline, and he proceeded to post an 11.42 ERA for the Brewers in 8 2/3 innings. Milwaukee designated him for assignment in January 2020 and ultimately released him in mid-September after passing through waivers unclaimed. (Faria did not appear in an MLB game during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.) He signed with Arizona this past June and appeared in 23 games, including three starts, for the hapless Diamondbacks striking out 32 batters in 32 2/3 innings.

Faria boasts a four-pitch mix — four-seamer, splitter, curveball, and slider — though he leans heavily on his fastball, which sits around 92 mph. However, while his fastball is nothing to write home about, his splitter is, inarguably, an above average offering.

His splitter helped propel him to a promising rookie campaign in 2017 when he produced 1.3 fWAR, an 81 ERA-, and a 3.43 ERA in 16 total games (14 starts). However, his iffy tertiary and quaternary stuff (i.e. his slider and curveball) have tanked an otherwise promising start to his career.

Faria has never produced anything near what he did during his age-23 season. However, bringing him in on a minor league deal represents a zero risk, decent reward opportunity for the Twins. In a best-case scenario, he is added to the 40-man roster and functions in a similar role to that of Devin Smeltzer from past seasons; a serviceable long inning relief arm who has the ability to step up into a spot-starter role on occasion. In a worst-case scenario, he sticks around at Triple-A and provides organizational pitching depth, something that is always in dire need.

In many respects, the signing of Faria is emblematic of the Twins front office’s approach to finding bullpen arms. They often look for pitchers who can be signed for cheap (i.e. short-term or minor league deals) and possess at least one offering that displays some signs of being elite. Matt Wisler rose to prominence after a middling career due his high-end slider. The Twins will likely hope to accomplish the same feat by relying on Faria’s splitter. 

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[Sousy]

Quote

In a worst-case scenario, he sticks around at Triple-A and provides organizational pitching depth, something that is always in dire need.

Sometimes you go looking for the next developmental prospect to fill the minor league roster, sometimes you just need a Rob Whalen to fill a few weeknight innings in St. Paul.

[Highlander1]

No risk, no reward? Or dumpster diving at its finest?  Having a plus pitch is nice to go with a 92 fastball if he can get some movement on said fastball. Work to be done on the splitter to make it elite over plus. Welcome aboard Jake. 

[h2oface]

This FO seems to just not like flame throwers.

[AceWrigley]

1 hour ago, h2oface said:

This FO seems to just not like flame throwers.

Are flame throwers ever used for good, really?

[RonCoomersOPS]

4 hours ago, h2oface said:

This FO seems to just not like flame throwers.

I don't think it's that they don't like flame throwers so much as it is they want pitchers who can get lots of outs in lots of different ways. Ryan's deceptive delivery and Ober's ability to mix up his pitch sequencing throughout his starts are two non-heat tools that come to mind.

[awmonahan]

I get the impression they will draft flame throwers (see last year's #1), but don't want to spend for it at the higher levels, and instead look for efficiencies with pitching motion, pitch movement, etc. 

With all the time spent on signing these reclamation projects and Buxton's contract, it seems like the FO's interpretation of competitive in 2022 isn't winning the Central, but developing players, evaluating pitching prospects, and hopefully playing .500 ball. It's not what I would like, but I don't know where else they can go from here. 

 

 

[old nurse]

9 hours ago, h2oface said:

This FO seems to just not like flame throwers.

What is your definition of flame thrower? What minor league signing did they miss that met that description

[Whitey333]

The Twins will be in real trouble soon.  The dumpster diving will be empty even for them.  With the lockout we know they can't sign major league talent, but they seldom do that anyway.

[Chachi]

In my mind, he took Cave’s spot on the roster and that makes the Twins better with this signing.  

[puckstopper1]

Yawn....

[Shaitan]

On 12/3/2021 at 12:34 AM, RonCoomersOPS said:

I don't think it's that they don't like flame throwers so much as it is they want pitchers who can get lots of outs in lots of different ways. Ryan's deceptive delivery and Ober's ability to mix up his pitch sequencing throughout his starts are two non-heat tools that come to mind.

Flame throwers on the waiver wire tend to have no control.