Blue Jays Opposing Pitcher Report: Jake Faria

Jake Faria will take the bump for the Rays on Saturday evening and the Blue Jays will send Aaron Sanchez to oppose him. With Sanchez finding his form, it will be important for the Blue Jays to add some run support.

Jake Faria is riding the high of a great outing last time out against the struggling Detroit Tigers (13-17). Faria went eight scoreless innings and allowed just three hits, one walk, and struck out six. Throughout the season, Faria has had mixed results, posting a 2-1 record with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.295 WHIP across six starts.

Listed at 6-4 and 235 pounds, Faria is a presence on the mound. However, his fastball does not match his formidable size. The big righty uses his fastball 56.8% of the time and has a below average velocity of 91.3 mph. The rest of his repertoire consists of a changeup, slider, and curveball.

The changeup is the second most used pitch by Faria at 22.2% of the time. The slider has been his best pitch in terms of getting batters out, though. He’s has utilized the slider 16.9% of the time and has held batters to a minuscule .150 BAA on the pitch.

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If there is one pitch to attack Faria on, it’s his curveball. Faria has used his curve just 3.9% of the time this year but has still allowed a huge .500 BAA and 1.000 SLGA against it. Unfortunately, Blue Jays batters have had more than their fair share of struggles against curveballs so far this season.

With a fastball-changeup combination, Jake Faria is similar to the Blue Jays’ own Marco Estrada. Also similar to Estrada, Faria depends on fly balls to get his outs. Faria has produced fly balls 43.4% of the time while forcing ground outs 33.7% of time and strikeouts 20.8% of the time. Throughout this year Faria has been good at protecting against the home run ball, allowing just three home runs over 29 1/3 innings of work. However, the peripheral numbers are encouraging for the Blue Jays coming into this game.

As already explained, most of the batted balls Faria produces are fly balls. Even better for the Jays, Faria has allowed medium contact 43.4% of the time and hard contact 42.2% of the time. As well, batters pull the ball 47% of the time against the righty. With a FB/HR rate of 8.3%, Faria is due for a regression towards the mean at some point. With the Major League home run leaders coming into town, there is no better time than now for that regression.

Russell Martin, Kendrys Morales, Kevin Pillar, and Josh Donaldson have faced Jake Faria before. Each has had varying success against the righty. Donaldson and Martin lead the group against Faria. Donaldson has three hits in five opportunities and Martin has one double in three at bats. Pillar and Morales have struggled against Faria, Pillar has just one hit in six at bats, while Morales has taken the collar in six at bats.

Next: Donaldson proves a star is still needed in Toronto

Overall, the Blue Jays have an opportunity to hit around a pitcher due for regression. With a rejuvenated Josh Donaldson back, this could be a good opportunity for the Blue Jays to assert their status as the home run champs of the league.