The Pirates announced Monday that for the second time this season, they’ve claimed right-hander Carson Fulmer off waivers. Pittsburgh claimed Fulmer off waivers from the Tigers in late August but lost him to the Orioles in early September before he ever pitched a game in Pittsburgh. Baltimore apparently tried to pass Fulmer through waivers themselves in order to retain him without committing a 40-man roster spot to him, but the Bucs put in a claim to bring him back.
Fulmer, 26, hasn’t lived up to the billing since being selected by the White Sox with the No. 8 overall pick back in 2015. At various points, the former Vanderbilt star was even considered a potential No. 1 overall pick, but he’s struggled in the upper minors with the ChiSox and been hit hard at virtually every point in his up-and-down Major League career.
To this point, Fulmer owns a woeful 6.34 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9 in 105 Major League innings. But there’s plenty of pedigree here, and he still possesses high-end spin rates on his heater and curveball. His time in the Orioles organization was brief but also encouraging, as Fulmer tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and without a hit. He did walk two batters and plunk another one, however, so his longstanding control issues are still making themselves plainly evident.
Fulmer is out of minor league options, so the Pirates will have to carry him on the Opening Day roster next year or else attempt yet again to pass him through waivers in order to keep him around. He hasn’t even come close to going unclaimed at this point, so that might be unlikely. The Tigers had the top waiver priority when they claimed him from the White Sox on Opening Day, and the Pirates had the top claim priority when they plucked him from Detroit the first time around. Ten teams passed before the Orioles won their claim on him earlier this month, and the Pirates again claimed him with top priority this time around.
He’s getting into Oliver Drake territory.
imagine if he had a full year to try and match him. 3 in a 60 day season isnt too bad.
MLBTR should start a lottery with who ends the season and offseason with this guy. It would be exciting..
It’s like that Christmas party game where people steal white elephant gifts from each other
Carson Fulmer is the shiniest piece of metal at the scrap yard.
“The Scrap Yard” would be an apt nickname for PNC Park.
Have you even been to the park? Fair cry from being a scrap yard
The park is wonderful, the collection of players within, not so much. PNC is like having a beautiful parcel of land adjacent to a lake and turning it into a junkyard. It’s still a great area, but the beauty suffers because of the residents.
In addition to a full 40-man roster, the Pirates have nine 40-man players on the 45-day IL. They are just making Fulmer’s life miserable at this point.
Oh, there are plenty of 40 (49?) men who can be jettisoned. Probably half of the, shouldn’t be in the majors.
Put him in the pen, he has to do better than Neverauskus.
Interesting that the Red Sox passed on him when he was claimed by the Orioles… if you’re looking for a team that is desperate for pitching and could use a guy with ANY potential… it’s them. He would’ve been a better pickup than Covey!! But at this point I kind of just feel bad for the guy and hope he can actually stick somewhere and put up decent numbers. He’s obviously still got potential given that teams are still claiming him so quickly — I hope for his sake he can finally make something of all that potential.
Fulmer didn’t do anything wrong in limited action in Baltimore. I’m not sure why we didn’t keep him and give him a look for spring training. We still have garbage like Branden Kline, Evan Phillips, and David Hess occupying 40 man slots. The upside on Fulmer is probably still higher than Eshelman at this point too.
jbigz12 calling three players garbage, wow, please stop…
I don’t know about Big E
As a white sox fan, I feel your pain with covey! But I can tell you that fulmer isn’t any better. Don’t be disappointed.
Carson ‘Hot Potato’ Fulmer. Which team will be holding him when the music finally stops in 2020?
Hey, top 91st percentile in cutter/fastball spin, top 88th percentile of curveball spin. Last guy they claimed like that was Chris Stratton who’s become a really solid bullpen piece.
Yadier Molina would question that.
Nah even Yaddy knows.
Why is the MLB playing hot potato with Carson Fulmer’s career? At this point I’d imagine he’s just renting hotels in each new city he goes to. He probably hasn’t been good for each team because of the stupid run-around he’s been on. This is a pathetic move by each team letting him go. His max on each of these teams has been what, two weeks? Sad. What’s worst is that he has good stuff, and if he could settle in with a team and get some different coaching views, I’d imagine he could still harness at least some of his top prospect visions.
I think you’re right, Rangers29. For years he was in Don Cooper’s domain and never approached realizing his potential. Another perspective could be what he needs, but he would have to have the benefit of being with a team for a long enough period to see if a different approach was actually working.
The hard part is that with no options, and the added playoff expansion, most teams have to treat him like a rule 5 pick, and contenders just can’t do that. If he doesn’t produce, bye bye!
I was really dissapointed when the Pirates DFA’d him the first time over Neverauskas. Didn’t understand that move becaue they’ve seen what Neverauskas is like plenty of times. Bad. At least give another kid a shot. He was drafted in the first round for a reason. Why not see what he’s got. He has outstanding spin on his cutter and curveball The last time they gave a shot to a former first rounder who was a spinrate darling, it turned into Chris Stratton who has a 3.04 ERA, 3.25 FIP, 3.38 xFIP, and 3.37 SIERA. What do you have to lose by giving him a shot?
Yankees wanted him pretty badly a couple years ago. I’m surprised they didn’t go after him, although I’m sure it’s because they didn’t want to free up of one of their 40-man spots, naturally.
Another dumpster dive. Just keep the pile of trash smelling fresh
As a white sox fan, I feel your pain with covey! But I can tell you that fulmer isn’t any better. Don’t be disappointed.
In a parallel universe, the White Sox prioritized developing his secondary and tertiary pitches at the lower levels of the minors, and didn’t rush him.
I wonder how that worked out.
Everyone wants to have him in their organization, but not on their 40-man. Eventually he’ll pass through waivers.
He probably just needed to get released by 4 different teams in a couple months to get his confidence back. That the Pirates would claim him off waivers a 2nd time shortly after releasing him shows they believe in him slightly more than seeing no value in him a couple weeks ago. A pretty rousing endorsement.
I think this is great for baseball.
I hope we see more articles written about teams releasing and claiming Fulmer in the coming weeks and months.
Take one down, pass him around, 25 bottles of beer on the wall