Just over two and half weeks after he was claimed off waivers by the Tigers, Carson Fulmer got the opportunity to pitch against his former team. His appearance went about as well as his entire career in Chicago.
With his very first pitch against the White Sox, Fulmer plunked Adam Engel. It didn’t get much better from there, as he ended up surrendering two runs on two hits, plus the hit-by-pitch.
“This is something we saw a little bit too much of,” Steve Stone said after a José Abreu RBI double. “That is a slider that doesn’t do anything.”
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The White Sox drafted Fulmer with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 draft. He made his MLB debut one year later, but he could never perform at the major-league level outside of a handful of starts in 2017.
In 44 games with the White Sox, including 15 starts, Fulmer posted a 6.56 ERA, 1.637 WHIP and an 83/64 K/BB ratio over 94.2 IP.
Fulmer might have been looking for a bit of revenge after he threw some shade at the White Sox after being claimed by the Tigers.
MLB
“To keep a long story short, there was a lot of things that I did the last couple years that I just wasn’t used to,” Fulmer told reporters in Detroit when the Tigers claimed him. “I could get all into that. But at the end of the day, I really want to get back to who I am, and that’s pitching with my mentality, my competitiveness. I love to win.
“Putting mechanics aside, putting all the analytics aside, all the stuff that is in baseball now and just getting back to who I am. That’s competing and winning at the highest level and just giving my team the best chance to win. That’s something I’ve lost the last couple years, but I’m in a good place right now and I’m going to rely on that competitive nature to help me have a lot of success in the next couple.
“That’s something I’ve lived by for my whole life. Where it went away, I don’t know. But I’ve found it.”
With a 8.31 ERA and 1.62 WHIP in five appearances this season for the Tigers, it appears Fulmer should keep looking.
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