Peter Fairbanks


Peter Anderson Fairbanks is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. He has played in MLB for the Texas Rangers.

Career

Amateur career

Fairbanks attended Webster Groves High School in Webster Groves, Missouri. He underwent Tommy John surgery during his junior year of high school. Fairbanks attended the University of Missouri and played college baseball for the Tigers from 2013 through 2015. During his time at Missouri, he pitched for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summers of both 2013 and 2014.

Texas Rangers

Fairbanks was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 9th round, with the 258th overall selection, of the 2015 MLB draft. He spent his debut season of 2015 with the Spokane Indians of the Class A Short Season Northwest League, going 1–2 with a 3.14 ERA over 57 innings. He spent the 2016 season with the Hickory Crawdads of the Class A South Atlantic League, going 4–5 with a 4.88 ERA in 101 innings. He opened the 2017 season with the Down East Wood Ducks of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League, going 2–1 with a 5.79 ERA in 18.2 innings. Fairbanks suffered a second torn UCL and underwent Tommy John surgery for a second time during the 2017 season. The injury caused him to miss the rest of the 2017 and the entire 2018 season. Fairbanks returned to game action in 2019 as a relief pitcher, being assigned to Down East to open the 2019 season. He went 1–0 with a 2.92 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 12 innings for them. On May 9, he was promoted to the Frisco RoughRiders of the Texas League. He went 1–0 with a 0.00 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 7 innings for them. On May 29, he was promoted to the Nashville Sounds of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.
On June 8, his contract was selected and he was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. He made his major league debut on June 9; recording three strikeouts over two scoreless innings of relief.

Tampa Bay Rays

On July 13, 2019, Fairbanks was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Nick Solak. Following the trade, he was assigned to the Durham Bulls. Fairbanks finished the 2019 season going 2–3 with a 6.86 ERA over 21 MLB innings.

Personal life

Fairbanks' father, Shane, played college baseball for the Missouri Tigers in the 1980's and in minor league baseball for the Houston Astros organization in 1983.