On July 23, the White Sox tweeted out a press release of roster moves, as they have done many times before. There was some good news (Yoan Moncada was back from injury, Jimmy Lambert and Codi Heuer made the team), there were some re-assignments to Schaumburg that had White Sox twitter abuzz (hello, Nick Madrigal). But somewhere in the middle, the club said goodbye to an enigmatic, hard-throwing right-hander from Lakeland, Fla.
Four years and six days after they first called him up to the majors, the White Sox unceremoniously parted ways with a former top draft pick. The club designated 2015 first-rounder (eighth overall) Carson Fulmer for assignment. The Detroit Tigers grabbed him off waivers, ending Fulmer’s White Sox career.
END OF ERAS
Fulmer’s departure ended the era during which White Sox fans saw their patience with the right-hander tested and their faith in him figuring it out diminish by the year. It also ended the Sox’ wait-and-see approach of the last few seasons. Lastly, it closed the book on firstround picks under scouting director Doug Laumann, whose eight-year tenure as the White Sox head of scouting came to an end immediately after the 2015 draft. Laumann moved to the senior advisor to scouting operations position, with Nick Hostetler replacing him.
Fulmer was one of just a handful of players from the 2015 draft remaining with the club. Seby Zavala and Danny Mendick are the only others from that class to reach the majors.The White Sox didn’t have picks in the second or third rounds in 2015.
Normally, eyebrows are raised when a club says goodbye to a 26-year-old former top 10 draft pick. This time around, a sense of peace seemed to wash over the fan base. It was time to let go, but boy, if only things would have gone differently…
“THIS KID COULD CLOSE IN THE BIG LEAGUES TOMORROW”
Originally drafted out of the Vanderbilt Commodores pitching factory – in the same year that the Dodgers selected eventual all-star and Fulmer’s college teammate Walker Buehler – Fulmer displayed electric stuff in his three seasons in Nashville. The ever-bespectacled Floridian was also one of the aces on a USA Collegiate National Team that wowed the international circuit in 2014, with eventual big-leaguers such as Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson, Bryan Reynolds, A.J. Minter, Christin Stewart, and even current White Sox players Ryan Burr and Zack Collins.
Burr and Fulmer were part of a historic combined no-hitter during Europe’s most renowned invitational tournament in Haarlem, The Netherlands, facing an impressive Dutch national team that was just a few years removed from defeating Cuba to take the gold in the World Baseball Championship final. Fulmer pitched the first six no-hit innings and struck out five. After watching Fulmer pitch 11.1 impressive innings during the tournament, one American League scout in attendance remarked to the aspiring 28-year-old baseball writer next to him: “This kid could close in the big leagues tomorrow.”
That was not as outlandish as it seems six years later. Fulmer looked unhittable that summer. The violently deceptive delivery, the 97 mph fastball, the knee-buckling slider. Fans in attendance only spoke more often of “that incredible shortstop” (Bregman) and “that pretty-boy second baseman with the wavy hair” (Swanson) than they did of Fulmer. He looked like the real deal, like the next star that Bregman and (to a lesser extent) Swanson would become.
TOP 10 DRAFT PROSPECT
Fulmer continued his ascendance to being the top college pitcher in the country by returning to Vandy for his junior year, which was his best with the Commodores. He went 14-2 with a 1.83 ERA, 127.2 IP, 167 strikeouts and an 11.7 K/9. When the draft rolled around, Fulmer was a Golden Spikes finalist and had been named the SEC Pitcher of the Year, and National Pitcher of the Year. He was clearly the best college pitcher in the country. Baseball America mocked him to Arizona, first overall.
That prediction did not come true, as Fulmer saw his Team USA teammates Swanson (1, Diamondbacks), Bregman (2, Astros), Dillon Tate (4, Rangers) and Tyler Jay (6, Twins) picked ahead of him, but the White Sox made the then 21-year-old righty their first round pick at No. 8. The pick was universally applauded, despite some recurring concerns (size, delivery, etc.). The White Sox got a first overall talent at the back end of the top 10.
We ranked Fulmer first in the White Sox system, just ahead of Tim Anderson. MLB Pipeline flipped them and had Fulmer as the No. 42 prospect in all of baseball, in between Blake Snell and the now-retired Mark Appel.
The future was bright for a while, but for some reason, things never clicked into place for Fulmer in pro ball.
TOO FAST, TOO FURIOUS
Fulmer opened his first full season in professional baseball with the Birmingham Barons. After a successful 22.0 innings with Winston-Salem at the end of 2015 (2.05 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 10.23 K/9, 3.77 BB/9), the then 22-year-old appeared ready for a challenge. In hindsight, that challenge may have come to soon. In a race to win a division for the first time in almost a decade, and after having spent 42 days in first place early in the season, the White Sox front office went all-in. It was the summer of the Fernando Tatis Jr. trade (June 4) and the call-ups of their top two prospects. Anderson arrived on June 10 and Fulmer made his debut on July 17.
Whereas Anderson kinda sorta adjusted relatively easily, Fulmer did not. He was used sparingly by manager Robin Ventura and ended up pitching 11.2 innings with Chicago, finishing his stint with an 8.49 ERA, 10 strikeouts and 7 walks. Though it was a limited sample size, Fulmer’s struggles should not have come as a surprise. The hard-throwing pitcher struggled in Double-A before his call-up, displaying a growing lack of control of his once electric stuff. He fared slightly better in Charlotte just before his call-up, but in hindsight, Fulmer’s hastened big league debut may have been a case of ‘too fast, too furious’.
TRY AND TRY AGAIN
It seems these 11.2 innings broke Fulmer completely. The right-hander ended up on a rollercoaster/shuttle bus between Charlotte and Chicago for the next few years, with fans watching his strikeout numbers decline, and his ERAs consistently spiking over 5.00. Be it in Triple-A or the majors, Fulmer either walked too many or gave up too many hard hits to be successful. Something had to change, but it never did.
It’s not like he didn’t (appear to) work on improving. Almost every season since he was drafted (yes, those are all separate links), there was talk of how this was going to be the year Fulmer would figure it out, establish himself as a major leaguer and live up to his college and draft pedigree.
He slowed his delivery down, then he sped it back up. He slowed his mound presence down, only to speed it back up when he did not find success. Nothing seemed to get the results everyone was looking for. Even a stint a Driveline did not do the trick. Fulmer at no point looked like the guy he was in college.
END OF AN ERA, START OF SOMETHING NEW?
On the day this abbreviated baseball season were to start, in a year when the White Sox find themselves on the upswing of a rebuild, and after yet another disappointing showing during Summer Camp, the club gave in. Carson Fulmer was designated for assignment by the team that drafted him, tried to turn him into a big leaguer, but failed and maybe even broke him. Now he’ll get a do-over with the organization he grew up rooting for: the Detroit Tigers. Maybe a change of scenery will do Fulmer good, now that he’ll spend spring training in his hometown of Lakeland, Fla. Perhaps the complete lack of pressure in his new environment will allow him to re-invent himself. Maybe he will become the pitcher that everyone who ever saw him pitch before 2016 thought he could be.
There is a certain now-34-year-old baseball writer who – despite it all – would love to see it happen, if only for the memories of that one incredible week of pitching in 2014.
Photo credit: Clinton Cole/FutureSox
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I’m surprised they couldn’t get anything for him. The Tigers have first crack at waivers and they snagged him. It shows there must have been interest when the team with the first shot claimed him.