March 15: Fulmer further discussed the shut down with McCosky, stating that he’s not sure how long it’ll take to build back up. As McCosky explains in greater detail, the right-hander had been wearing a brace on his surgically repaired knee that has since been swapped out for a compression sleeve.
“Maybe it was a little restrictive,” said Fulmer in reference to the brace. “Today was a step in the right direction as far as using my lower body and trying to drive toward home plate, as opposed to basically not using my lower body at all.”
Fulmer’s fastball velocity this spring had been hovering in the 90 to 92 mph range, per McCosky, which is a far cry from the 95.5 mph he’s averaged throughout his career. At present, there’s no defined timetable for Fulmer to be up to full strength, but it seems likely he’ll open the season on the injured list.
March 14: The Tigers have shut down righty Michael Fulmer, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports (Twitter links). Manager Ron Gardenhire says that Fulmer “took a step back to refine his lower body mechanics.”
Typically, pitchers only hit the shelf in mid-March if they are dealing with an arm problem or other injury. That doesn’t seem to be the case here, though it could be that the team sees some risk in allowing Fulmer to keep throwing. He underwent knee surgery last fall and has shown reduced velocity thus far this spring.
Fulmer, who’s slated to earn $2.8MM after losing an arbitration hearing, is a key asset for the rebuilding Detroit organization. While the team’s outlook for the coming season is poor regardless, the hope had been that Fulmer would get back on track after a rough 2018 season.
There’s still time for Fulmer to re-discover his established ceiling. He turns 26 tomorrow and has three more arb-eligible seasons beyond 2019. First, he’ll need to work through the issues that the club has identified.
As things stand, says Gardenhire, there’s “no timetable on when [Fulmer is] going to get back on the mound.” That leaves the door open for Daniel Norris or another hurler to earn a shot. Matt Hall, Ryan Carpenter, and Spencer Turnbull are among the other potential candidates with some MLB experience and 40-man spots.
Wow remember all the armchair Yankee GM’s that were clamoring to trade for this stud.
Don’t listen to any of those a holes in the live chat jeff. They ruin it for the 99% that really enjoy them.
“Shut down” seems to be a hip phrase writers, fans, and tv people like to use a lot lately
I’m glad the Braves didn’t end up pulling the trigger on him and giving a lot up to do it last year.
Not to say he isn’t capable of coming back and being his old self by the end of the year or anything, but there’s clearly some red flags with him now that weren’t around this time last year.
Not really. The Tigers are just being cautious and letting him get back to full strength. They tried having him pitch with a knee brace. It wasn’t working and probably introducing unwanted changes to his mechanics. They aren’t playing for anything so no reason to push. If he’s not pitching by June, that would be a problem.
Really. Saying Tiger games dont matter therefore him not throwing and losing major velocity when he tries, is okay, is flat out incorrect. Everyone involved needs him to play and play well and he cannot do that, even as the season begins. Sorry to burst any bubbles.
I’m saying he’s hurt and they are taking an abundance of caution to make sure he’s 100% before he plays. He had knee surgery & hasn’t recovered his leg strength yet which is why his velocity is down. Try to understand the difference between hurt & bad. Hurt gets better bad doesn’t.
norris is as healthy as ever. his opportunity to prove himself is now.
Norris didn’t look very good against the Yanks this spring. But still early.
I guess I was wrong on this one. I wanted the braves to get him but he’s looking more like a flop.
Maybe he needs to stop shaving and he’ll regain his strength
Turns out Cespedes for Fulmer was a fair trade….lame horse for lame horse. Each teased early but neither are likely to be heard from again
lol…I have Ces on my bench too, also for cheap. I figure Fulmer can at least be a back-end guy and has a coin flip chance of being useful. Ces…well…I have him for 2 years, but not much higher than league minimum, so I’m playing with house money between the two guys.
He’s 25 years old and it’s not like his arm is broken. You folks wanna just take him behind the woodshed and shoot him.
No one is saying he doesnt have talent. His mechanics were very violent though. His velocity was coming from him whipping his shoulder around (which probably caused his shoulder injuries). The way he found success was not sustainable. The fact that the Tigers are shutting him down specifically to try to fix his mechanics proves this. There is a lot of doubt, and reasonably so, that he can find the same level of success he did in his rookie campaign. Its not impossible to reinvent yourself and become dominant again, but it is very difficult. He should have ample opportunities to prove himself with the Tigers. Its not like he is blocking anyone or ruining their shot to be in the playoffs. For these reasons doubt anyone is wanting him to simply give up on him. Give up on the idea of trading top prospects for him, maybe.
The mechanics problem is because of the knee brace. They will work it out. When he was pitching well, there was never any comments about poor mechanics.
reddit.com/r/motorcitykitties/comments/6zkfth/an_i…
Here is a reddit link to a discussion of a video about Fulmers injury/mechanics in 2017. There have been concerns of poor mechanics for a while now.
There have been problems with his release mechanics his entire career. It has always been a well known issue.
No surprise. The Tigers have been talking about getting his mechanics right and repeatable all spring. That is first and foremost. If it is not there, it is wise that they do shut him down. And all that really means is he won’t pitch in games until they see progress with his daily throwing regimen. He was also slated to start a lot more work on his lower body so that may also be a factor.
I still wonder if the brace is hurting more than helping. Not natural thing to wear a knee brace and pitch.
Would be a great time for Brodie Van Woebegone to jump in on Fullm.er.
The Mets are all about the Scratch & Dent section, but I doubt DET will cut their losses right now. I’m guessing they’ll give him most/all of this year to get sorted and then re-evaluate.
I’d love if Brodie could steal Fulmer and have him work with Eiland and/or a guy like Frank Viola, who should still be kicking around the org. Al Leiter and Jon Franco are still with the org too, though I’m not sure how they are with fixing pitchers.
I really hate 90% of users here. Most comments are partially accurate, yet everyone trashes every comment completely. The odd thing is I really like the comments for reading purposes…
You are part of my 10%, jleve618. Congrats, on Harper. hope he retires in the HOF, in a Phillies’ uniform.
Much as ppl want it to be bad contract, few 26 yr old FA.
Agree, Jleve. I’ve only been on here a short time, but am a long-time viewer. Why can’t people just appreciate opposing opinions without being insulting? BYB has a lot of informed posters without the vitriol.
As a Tigers fan, I am happy to read what other Tiger fans think.
Now, I expect someone to take a shot at me for this post.
I agree. BYB is a great site for Tiger fans with a very cordial discussion board. They are just not as timely as providing information as MLBTR is.
Shutting down Fulmer gives Norris and Trumbull a shot at the rotation. I think Gardy is high on Trumbull. He looks good this spring
Who is Trumbull?
Autocorrect. It’s Spencer Turnbull
I like Spencer Turnbull, Jose Fernandez and Ryan Carpenter too. I fear that Tyson Ross is in the same category as Mike Pelfrey and Mark Lowe. What did the Tiger scouts see in him?
Thank god we traded for happ instead of fulmer. For a young pitcher so be losing this much velocity so soon in his career is alarming. Hopefully he bounces back !
And you can bet Rothschild wouldn’t have been able to get him straight.
As a Tiger Fan….Both Fulmer and Norris are busts…time too give up on these two….injuries and excuses…..Fullmer had 3 good months of pitching 3 years ago…Norris cant stay healthy…..I can only hope for Fulmer to give the tigers 2 good month this year so we can trade him somewhere……..
Fulmer may be lost to the Tigers for longer than just a few weeks into April. This is going to be a difficult puzzle to solve. It’s obvious that he needs to put a lot of torque on his drive leg in order to get the velocity he needs to be successful. It is also obvious that even though he’s throwing 90-92, he’s getting the velocity out of his arm, not his lower body. So, he was risking the health of his arm by continuing to throw the way he has. Now, with the brace off, they still must find a way for Fulmer to generate power without messing up that knee once again. This is going to be one long rehab assignment.
Let him get that knee right. It may take 4 months. Remember that Mark Fidrych ruined his arm when he tried to pitch on a hurt knee.