Detroit Tigers: Buck Farmer and his growing list of problems

In honor of Father’s Day, congratulations to Detroit Tigers right-handed starting pitcher Buck Farmer for raising his ERA so easily against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Detroit Tigers pitching has shown flashes of not being great, but Buck Farmer took that to a new level today.

He gave up seven runs in just 2.1 innings. It came off the strength of three home runs. Including one grand slam by Steven Souza Jr.

After his last start I wrote about what I thought of Farmer’s future. It was not too good because of the over use of his fastball.

I still believe that his reliance on the heater will cost him a decent career. But today, against the Tampa Bay Rays, he showed a different problem entirely.

The Problem

Farmer had trouble pitching ahead in the count. It never failed for him to make a mistake with two strikes on the hitter.

The Souza homer? Two strikes. Hitting Evan Longoria with a pitch? Two strikes.  The Daniel Norris solo shot? Two strikes.

It never failed.  Most pitchers try to get the hitter to chase with two strikes.  Some try to hit the corner.  Farmer took a different approach, he challenged the hitters with fastballs over the middle of the plate.

Safe to say that wasn’t a good plan.

How To Fix It

The Detroit Tigers pitcher is clearly having some sort of mental block. There is no drill to fix it.

Farmer needs to figure out whatever is making it hard for him to paint corners when he is up in the count.  If he can’t there is a long ride to Toledo coming soon.

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Unfortunately there is no definitive and easy way to cure mental issues.  He needs to find a way to gain some confidence in that count.  That is really the only way.

For Farmer, that means getting on the mound in game situations, getting ahead in the count, and delivering a good pitch.

The only way for a pitcher to build up enough confidence is to perform in the situation that is giving them trouble.

The Future

In the direct future Farmer will not be in the rotation after being sent down to Triple-A Toledo following the game.

His last two starts have a combined total of 4.2 innings, thirteen runs, and five home runs.

The best he can hope for is that this demotion to Toledo will help him figure out how to get back to where he was before. Bottom line, something has to happen.

If not for the good of the Detroit Tigers, for the good of Buck Farmer.  Getting shelled over and over is going to weigh on his mind and confidence.

If something doesn’t happen soon, Farmer’s career may come to an abrupt end.  It is as simple, and unfortunate as that.

Next: Reflecting on seeing Michael Fulmer

With the move of sending Farmer down the Detroit Tigers have called up Anibal Sanchez.  His track record is not great this year either.  Don’t be surprised to see Chad Bell slide into the rotation.