Righty Farquhar second 'lefty' out of 'pen
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NEW YORK -- Danny Farquhar is so good against left-handers that Rays manager Kevin Cash considers the right-hander his second left-hander in the bullpen.
"He's had some success against lefties," Cash said. "The fastball-changeup combiniation. He throws well against righties also. When you don't have a bunch of left-handed pitchers, you try to find the guy that's had some success and he's probably the most after [Xavier Cedeño]."
Farquhar's changeup dives down and breaks away from left-handers.
"If it's a righty, it's going down and in," Farquhar said. "I still use my changeup against righties, but I guess it's more effective against lefties."
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Farquhar had 35 appearances over five stints with the Rays in 2016. In his final stint, with his changeup more in play, he led the bullpen with 24 appearances and compiled a 1.46 ERA with 36 strikeouts.
According to Statcast™, of the 90 righty pitchers who have thrown at least 100 changeups to lefty batters in 2016-17, Farquhar gets misses on 29.6 percent of swings on his change, which ranks fourth in the Major Leagues.
In addition, of those 90, the batting average on Farquhar's change is .114, which ranks fifth in MLB. Finally, of those 90, the exit velocity against on Farquhar's change is 78.6 mph, which ranks second in MLB.
"I think when I had the cutter, I was good against lefties and now I have a changeup, so I guess that pitch is good against lefties," Farquhar said. "Honestly, it doesn't matter who steps in the box, as long as I execute my pitches most of the time, it fares well. If I don't, it goes bad."
Worth noting
• Rickie Weeks Jr. was sore after Wednesday's collision with Brett Gardner, but was available Thursday.
• Colby Rasmus, who had a setback after experiencing an outfielder collision during his rehab assignment at Class A Advanced Charlotte, appears ready to resume his rehab assignment. The Rays are debating which affiliate to place him at to best facilitate the final stages of his recovery from offseason hip surgery.