Tigers starter Michael Fulmer had a terrific rookie campaign, finishing 11-7 with a 3.06 ERA and a 132/42 K/BB ratio in 159 innings. He and Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez are in the running for the American League Rookie of the Year Award, which will be announced on Monday. The Tigers acquired the right-hander from the Mets at the trade deadline in 2015 in the Yoenis Cespedes deal.
With the baseball season over, Fulmer hasn’t had to look hard to find things with which to occupy his time. For the second offseason in a row, Fulmer is working as a part-time plumber, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports. He is working for the uncle of one of his friends, joining Cyrus Wright Plumbing when the son of his boss took another job.
Fulmer said, "[My boss] called me, and I said, ‘All right, we’ll see how it goes from here.’ And I’m still doing it, so it’s fun.”
Fulmer’s boss, Larry Wright, said, “He digs ditches and gets dirty and does whatever needs to be done.” Fenech describes Fulmer’s job responsibilities as including ditch-digging, changing sewer lines, replacing old Orangeburg pipes with new PVC pipes, exchanging water heaters, replacing sinks and faucets, and fixing leaky toilets.
Manual labor helps Fulmer get ready for offseason preparation, saying, “It’s a different kind of workout. Digging out of six-foot ditches all the time and shoveling quite a bit. So, it’s a different type of workout, and it helps before I start working out in the offseason.”
