Kyle Farmer


James Kyle Farmer is an American professional baseball third baseman and catcher for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. He previously played for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He made his major league debut in 2017.

Career

Amateur career

Farmer graduated from the Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia, where he played baseball and football. While at Marist, he appeared in the 2009 film The Blind Side, playing a high school quarterback.
During his collegiate baseball career at the University of Georgia, Farmer played shortstop, hitting for a.308 batting average and recording a.968 fielding percentage, a UGA record for the shortstop position. In 2011, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 35th round of the 2012 MLB draft but did not sign and then was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 8th round of the 2013 MLB draft and signed.

Minor Leagues

The Dodgers converted him to a catcher and he made his professional debut with the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League in 2014 and then was promoted to the Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League in 2014. After 57 games with Great Lakes where he hit.310 he was promoted again to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the California League, where he hit.238 in 36 games. He began 2015 with the Quakes, where he was selected to the mid-season All-Star team. He did not play in the game due to his subsequent promotion to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League. Farmer was selected to represent the Dodgers organization at the All-Star Futures Game in 2015. He played in 76 games for Tulsa and hit.272. He returned to Tulsa to start the 2016 season and was selected to the mid-season all-star game. He played in 74 games for the Drillers in 2016, hitting.256 with five homers and 31 RBI. The Dodgers added him to their 40-man roster after the season. He was promoted to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers during the 2017 season.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Farmer was promoted to the major leagues for the first time on July 28, 2017. Two days later, in his first major league at bat, he hit a walk-off two-run double off of Albert Suárez of the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the 11th inning, giving the Dodgers a 3–2 win. Farmer appeared in 20 games for the Dodgers in 2017, primarily as a pinch hitter, and had six hits in 20 at-bats. He made the Dodgers roster for the 2017 NLDS and 2017 NLCS, having four at-bats as a pinch hitter, without recording a hit.
In 2018 he appeared in 24 games in the field for the Dodgers, 22 of them at third base. He batted.235/.312/.324 in 68 at bats.

Cincinnati Reds

On December 21, 2017, the Dodgers traded Farmer to the Cincinnati Reds, along with Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood, Matt Kemp and cash considerations in exchange for Homer Bailey, Jeter Downs, and Josiah Gray.

Personal life

Farmer proposed to his girlfriend, Courtney Sayre, in July 2017.
Farmer grew up a fan of the Atlanta Braves.