The Diamondbacks announced the signing of right-hander Jake Faria. Utilityman Ildemaro Vargas has been designated for assignment to open up a roster spot for Faria.
Faria had been pitching for the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate before he was released earlier this week. He’ll now join a reeling D’Backs team that is looking for all the pitching help it can find, though Faria has only a 5.65 ERA over 36 2/3 innings with Triple-A Salt Lake City. The righty does have a 28.05% strikeout rate, but Faria has been hurt by the long ball, with seven homers allowed over those 36 2/3 frames.
Home runs and walks became an increasingly big problem for Faria over 170 1/3 MLB innings with the Rays and Brewers from 2017-19, as he posted a 1.3 HR/9 and 10.4% walk rate to go along with a 4.54 ERA and 20.9% strikeout rate. A pretty well-regarded arm during his way up the ladder in Tampa Bay’s farm system, the Brewers acquired Faria for Jesus Aguilar in July 2019 but Faria didn’t pitch well during the rest of that season with Milwaukee and he didn’t see any action in 2020.
More to come….