Royals to call up Luke Farrell to start tomorrow’s doubleheader

The Royals will promote pitcher Luke Farrell to start the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Twins. Farrell can be added as the 26th man for a doubleheader without a corresponding roster move, although a 40-man roster move will need to be made to get him on the roster.

The 26-year old right-hander is the son of Red Sox manager John Farrell. He was selected in the sixth round of the 2013 draft by the Royals out of Northwestern after overcoming the removal of a golf ball-sized tumor in his neck. He has posted a 3.83 ERA in 82 ¹⁄₃ innings for Omaha with 77 strikeouts and 27 walks.

Farrell stands at 6’6’’, but doesn’t overwhelm with velocity. Our Shaun Newkirk wrote about him a few summers ago.

In his junior year of high school Luke's fastball ran between 79-82 MPH with a low-70's curveball and slower changeup. Now Luke is more 90-92 MPH with the occasional 94 MPH, introducing a cutter more often while improving his curveball in both velocity and shape.

The legend goes that growing up around his baseball dad, Luke learned his curveball from Josh Beckett, his cutter from Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, and his changeup from Curt Schilling. That might not be a tall tale, but it's a little bit more anecdotal than actual.

Farrell should bring a good feel for pitching, and he has seen his peripherals improve this year. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Royals could place Hunter Dozier on the 60-day disabled list, or designate someone for assignment, such as pitcher Andrew Edwards.

The Royals also demoted Jake Junis to Omaha and recalled pitcher Eric Skoglund. Junis gave up six runs in six innings in Kansas City’s 7-3 loss to Detroit on Wednesday, and had a 5.66 ERA in 35 innings with the Royals. Jason Hammel will start the second game of the doubleheader at 7:35 p.m. against the Twins. Farrell will become the fourth Royals pitcher to make his first MLB start this year, joining Junis, Skoglund, and Matt Strahm.