From the moment he was drafted in the 2017 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins in the 10th round, Calvin Faucher dreamed of making the major leagues one day, like every draftee.
He just didn’t imagine his MLB debut being so bad.
In any case, he will have a cool story to tell his children, even if he made history in the most unwanted way: he became the first pitcher in MLB to allow a grand slam to Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani.
“I’m sure it sucks in the moment, but Calvin Faucher is gonna have one of the best big league debut stories ever. ‘Yeah, I walked Mike Trout with the bases loaded and then proceeded to give up the first grand slam in Shohei Ohtani’s professional career,’” MLB personality and analyst Jared Carrabis tweeted.
I’m sure it sucks in the moment, but Calvin Faucher is gonna have one of the best big league debut stories ever.
“Yeah, I walked Mike Trout with the bases loaded and then proceeded to give up the first grand slam in Shohei Ohtani’s professional career.”
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) May 10, 2022
Faucher Was A Part Of The Nelson Cruz Trade In 2021
Faucher is now a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, who acquired him last year in the Nelson Cruz trade.
The right-hander, who made his MLB debut last night, had a 5.02 ERA and 15/6 K/BB ratio over 14.1 innings for Triple-A Duham this season.
Now, his MLB ERA stands at an ugly 45.00, in large part thanks to Ohtani.
He will probably be alternating between Durham and Tampa for the whole season, but outings like the one he has yesterday aren’t precisely going to help him.
Still, there is enough talent in his arm to carve out a major league role of some sort, and the Rays are known to get the best of each and every pitcher in their organization.
It’s likely that he would have chosen a different way to begin his MLB career, but every pitcher struggles at some point.
It will be up to him to improve from this point forward.
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