Game #129 Preview: Tigers @ Blue Jays

After last night's offensive explosion, the Blue Jays look to win another one this afternoon against the Tigers. Drew Hutchison finally returns from his stint in Buffalo to bring the number of Jays starters back to a full five (which may be six soon apparently?). Opposing him is right-hander Buck Farmer who hails from Georgia, if you couldn't have guessed that. The 24-year-old is similar in backstory to Matt Boyd as he was born in 1991 and drafted in the early rounds (5th for Farmer and 6th for Boyd) of the 2013 MLB draft. Farmer made it through the ranks quickly last season as a college draftee from Georgia Tech and ended up all the way in the majors when it was all said and done. In the bigs he's never been a very good starter, but there's been glimpses of a future in the bullpen.

In 30.0 innings of work this season, Farmer has allowed 26 earned runs thanks to walking a ton, striking out few, and allowing a home run to anyone who asks nicely. Usually a bad combination. It remains to be seen if he can turn things around, but at least he'll get a fair amount of chances to do so this season with the Tigers fully waving the white flag on the season.

Since college, Farmer was always lauded for his strong fastball and solid slider. He's carried this repertoire to the majors along with a strengthening changeup which he uses heavily against lefties. The heater hits the radar gun in the low to mid 90's and the slider has become more of a slurve coming in around 81 mph this season.

Here's a look at Farmer's prospect review prior to this year. As you can see, his slider was a lot harder before 2015:

Hopeful Lineup

1. Troy Tulowitzki SS
2. Josh Donaldson 3B
3. Jose Bautista RF
4. Edwin Encarnacion DH
5. Chris Colabello 1B
6. Russell Martin C
7. Ben Revere LF
8. Kevin Pillar CF
9. Ryan Goins 2B

Bullpen Usage

Still a pretty fresh bullpen for this afternoon's game.

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