Home Again: How Familiarity Sparked Buck Farmer’s Resurgence

When Buck Farmer signed a minor league deal with the Cincinnati Reds in July, he was a pitcher in search of a comeback. After being released by two different organizations in the span of a few months, Farmer found himself back where he was familiar, and it’s paying off. In 20 appearances with the Bats, he has posted a stellar 1.69 ERA, finding a rhythm he's been missing all season.

He began the 2025 season in free agency. The Atlanta Braves signed him to a minor league contract, and he started the season in Triple-A Gwinnett. He didn’t make it a month into the regular season, being released on April 15.

Farmer then signed another minor league deal with the Los Angeles Angels and joined Triple-A Salt Lake. Once again, he struggled, posting a 9.00 ERA during this time, and he was released for the second time this year on June 17.

Now he has returned to Louisville, where he feels comfortable and relaxed after spending time with the Bats in 2022. A comfortable environment can foster a sense of connection and community in the clubhouse. This is what Farmer feels like as the Reds organization gives him that sense of understanding.

“I think coming back here and being somewhere where I'm familiar with a lot of people, staff, organization, and I think that's helped just from a comfort level. I think the biggest thing is Pat Kelly is just kind of showing that he believes in me and knows who I am because I've played for him for a little while, and then against him for several years, and just him showing that trust in me has been huge,” Farmer said.

“He had a fantastic year in Cincinnati last year, probably his best year in the major leagues, and he's just comfortable,” Kelly said of his new late-inning reliever. “I think we've eased him into a role here, and he's done a great job.”

This has been critical for Farmer to gain that trust of his manager. At one point this year, he only threw four innings in a span of two and a half weeks with Salt Lake. Now his consistent innings have boosted his confidence, and he has been exuding it in Louisville.

Farmer typically comes in late with the game on the line in the eighth or ninth inning. His strategy revolves around making batters uncomfortable at the plate to get them out as quickly as he can.

“I think the biggest thing for hitters is they want to feel like they're on the offense, not on defense," Farmer said. “I think hitters want to feel as if they control the at-bat, and I want to be the one to control that. I'm trying to get them to put that ball in play. Whether that be a double play or a fly ball or anything. What I'm trying to do is force them to make contact, force them to swing the bat. Because at the end of the day, a hall of famer succeeds three times out of 10, right? I'm going to take those odds that if I put the ball in the zone, he's going to ground out or fly out.”

Farmer fully trusts his approach, and he sees the benefit to it. The modern game of baseball is more focused on strikeouts, with hitters swinging and missing. Pitchers are placing more emphasis on sitting down hitters at the plate, but Farmer still adheres to his method, despite these modern trends.

“It’s been quite funny to see the game evolve over the past five or six years. Everybody's so sold on swing and miss and strikeouts and stuff like that. But the defense is behind me for a reason. If they weren't supposed to be there, we wouldn't play with them there, right? It would just be the pitcher and the catcher out on the field, right? So why not? If I can go out there and throw two pitches and get an out, as opposed to sit there and try to battle with the guy over eight or nine? Then, I can either go back out for another inning or be ready to pitch the next day,” Farmer said.

Farmer’s approach has been very successful, and it speaks to how relaxed he feels in the community. Farmer's comfort was evident during a recent visit to Norton Children’s Hospital, an experience he described as fantastic, particularly when he and his Bats teammates saw some of the children get discharged.

“It was very cool to see the urgency and the happiness on those kids,” Farmer recalled. “I don't know how long they've been there. They could have been there for a few days or a few months. We don't know that. But seeing them be able to just go home and hopefully have some normalcy was very special to see.”

This visit speaks to his environment. Farmer feels comfortable and familiar in this community. This has been the key to his success. For the remainder of the season, he wants to stick to his strategy and continue to put his team in the best position to win. In a sport dominated by velocity and strikeouts, Farmer proves that sometimes, the best way forward is to rely on what you know best and to find a place where you feel at home.