At 25 years old, Michael Fulmer has yet to enter his prime.
The Tigers’ right-hander was hitting 97 mph consistently, and touching 98, while working a matinee vs. the Twins Thursday at Comerica Park. His slider was crisp and in the high 80s. Fulmer’s pitching line in the Tigers’ 3-1 victory: Seven innings, a run, five hits, a walk, four strikeouts.
He slumped a little bit early in the season, but Fulmer, the 2016 American League Rookie of the Year, clearly has a chance to be a great pitcher.
Yet, there is no more polarizing baseball issue in this town than whether the Tigers should trade Fulmer.
Why?
I certainly don’t fall in the Tigers need to trade Fulmer category.
The Tigers made a deadline move for Fulmer in 2015, acquiring him from the Mets in the Yoenis Cespedes trade.
Isn’t the hope that such deals result in a high-ceiling young player? Fulmer is under club control until 2023.
Few moves are worse than an organization developing young talent and dealing it long before free agency.
On top of his exceptional arm talent, Fulmer is the consummate pro, mature for his age. You want him leading the pitching staff because of his make up.
I understood, immediately, after talking to scouts when the Tigers acquired Fulmer, that he has a so-called “violent” motion, which makes him prone to injury. And he did have an elbow issue - albeit quite correctable - last year.
But any pitcher presents injury risk, even those with smooth-as-silk deliveries, and including the young first-round draft picks the Tigers have in their prospect pipeline (Beau Burrows, Matt Manning, Alex Faedo, Casey Mize), or any pitcher the Tigers would acquire in a Fulmer trade.
Fulmer was understandably sluggish after elbow surgery. He needed to tighten up his slider. But the velocity has been there.
“He wasn’t trying to force anything today,” Tigers’ manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He was moving along. If it wasn’t for a long inning (the Tigers scored all their runs in the bottom of the seventh), he would have been out there to pitch (the eighth).
“He forced the hitters out of their element because he was ahead in the count all game long.”
Fulmer not only has a proven track record in MLB, but a much better upside than even the above-mentioned prospects. His average fastball entering Thursday was 95.4 - and is only going to rise as the weather warms. It’s sixth-best among MLB starters, ahead of such notables as Stephen Strasberg, Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, Chris Sale and Max Scherzer.
In 65 career starts, Fulmer had a WAR pushing 10, much better at the same stage than Verlander, Scherzer and Rick Porcello - Cy Young winners.
Sure, it’s always wise to listen and never say never. I don’t believe in untouchables. But the notion Tigers’ general manager Al Avila should be shopping Fulmer at the trade deadline, especially with a strong buyer’s market, is absurd.
If Avila is successful with the rebuild, the Tigers should be looking at seriously contending with Fulmer still under control.
Even with largely a 4A team, they’re only three games below .500.
The Tigers have plenty of time to decide the ultimate fate of Michael Fulmer in this town.
What’s the hurry?