Jake Faria clears waivers, outrighted to Triple-A

It turns out the Brewers won’t be losing the player they got in exchange for Jesus Aguilar in the middle of last season, after all, adding some pitching depth to the minor league level.

Jake Faria was designated for assignment when the Brewers signed Jedd Gyorko, but has cleared waivers, according to the team, and has been outrighted to Triple-A San Antonio. He’ll still join the team in Phoenix with an invite to major league camp.

Faria will be 26 in 2020 and still might carry some back-end starter promise, but is largely in the “post-hype prospect” phase of his career. 2019 was his last option year, necessitating his DFA the other week, but at the very least he could take some innings in San Antonio while the coaching staff tries to iron out the control issues that have limited his success.

Faria was solid in his rookie season of 2017 for Tampa Bay, putting up a 3.43 ERA in 86.2 innings in the AL East largely as a starter (14 starts in 16 appearances), striking out 8.7 per 9 innings. His walk rates fell apart after that season, though, relegating him to the minors for much of the last two years.

The right-hander pitched in 8.2 poor innings largely in a mop-up role for the Brewers in 2019, allowing 11 earned runs behind 18 hits, 3 home runs, 5 walks and 8 strikeouts.

With his clearing of waivers and outright, the Brewers will hope to at least carve out some value from the Aguilar trade (who was DFA’ed himself in November before being claimed by the Marlins), even if Faria’s future may be as a middle reliever. With only a hair over one season of Major League service time, the Brewers control Faria’s rights through at least the 2025 season in the event he does become a useful piece.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference