MICHAEL FULMER CALLED UP
Here is what we know.
Shane Greene is headed to the disabled list with blisters.
Michael Fulmer will be called up to take his place in the rotation and start Friday.
The Tigers #1 prospect, Michael’s an exciting addition to the big league club on the heels of other big-time arms getting the call like Jose Berrios (Player Profile) and Sean Manaea (Player Profile).
"He's got stuff, for sure,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “He throws 95 [mph] with a wipeout-type slider. But the big leagues is a little different. These guys have seen stuff like that before. So you do have to locate your pitches. But it certainly doesn't hurt to have that type of stuff in your arsenal."
I’ll get to the arsenal in a bit. But there is one salient point that many seem to be looking past.
We have no idea how long this promotion will last for Fulmer. I’m not just saying that, his manager is too. "Really, there's no plan of pitching him anything other than Friday," Ausmus said. "We'll see how Friday goes and then decide after that."
When Greene is healthy, and blisters won’t keep him out more than 15 days, he could return to the rotation. There’s always the possibility that Daniel Norris could be given a shot to start as well. That means Fulmer, just like Blake Snell with the Rays, could make one or two starts. Factor that in before you get aggressive with your bidding for Fulmer.
Be careful with those bids.
On to the skills.
Fulmer was drafted 44th overall in 2011 by the Mets. He was just a guy in the massive Mets stable of young arms at times, despite all his talent. Still, there has always been impressive talent here. The 2013 season included surgery to repair torn meniscus in his knee that limited him to nine starts. His 2014 effort included a 4.39 ERA and 1.55 WHIP over 20 starts before he needed surgery to remove a bone spur and bone chips from his elbow. In 2015 things finally coalesced and the results impressed as he went 10-3 with a 2.24 ERA and 1.08 WHIP over 124.2 innings. He was also dealt least season as the prime piece in the Yoenis Cespedes deal. Given a new life with the Tigers, his star is certainly shinning brightly.
A 6-foot-3, 200-lb. righty, Fulmer has never thrown 125 innings in a professional campaign so there are certainly questions about workload. That’s something to keep in mind too.
Fulmer has a plus fastball that usually sits in the 92-94 mph range (it can hit 96-97 on a good day). The fastball generates tons of ground balls due to its heavy sink, and it also leads to a lot of weak contact. Fulmer augments the plus heater with a power slider. It’s a swing and miss pitch with sharp, downward break. As scouts say, it has good “depth.” Fulmer also throws a curveball. It’s not up to the level of the other two offerings, but it’s still a decent enough pitch that he can keep batters off balance with the change of speed from his two hard offerings.
Fulmer also tosses a changeup, but it’s clearly fourth in his arsenal of pitches.
Fulmer throws slightly across his body to add a little bit of deception, and he’s always been a strike thrower who has done a good job of keeping the walks in check despite the strikeout an inning stuff (he has a 9.0 K/9 mark last season and a 2.2 BB/9 rate). He seemed to have refined his mechanics to the point last season that he can consistently repeat his delivery and release point which means ruts don’t frequently occur.
Fulmer can be added in all leagues based on talent. Realize, though, that adding him comes with an extreme amount of risk because it’s much easier for me to think the Tigers pull a “Snell” with Fulmer and demote him quickly rather than give him 25 starts the rest of the way.
NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK
People are panicked with Brandon Crawford in some circles. Why? I’ll tell you why – the expectations game. People expected Crawford to repeat, or better, the 21 homers and 84 RBI he posted last season. I spent all offseason warning you he wasn’t going to do that. As we sit here, he’s on pace for 14 homers. That would still be the second-best mark of his career. Few seem to realize that Crawford hit .256 last 
season which is a career best. That mark is .011 points above his career mark. Currently batting .236, he’s just .009 points off his career mark of .245 meaning his average this season is closer to his career mark than last season. There’s also the fact that Crawford has a .349 OBP which is well above his single season best mark of .324. There’s also the 0.75 BB/K ratio that he’s sporting which is a huge step up for a guy with a career mark of 0.43. He’s not the guy you thought you saw last season, but he’s still better than he has normally been in a majority of measurements.
Prince Fielder turns 32 next month. A long-time star, Fielder has never failed when healthy. Ever. Only once in his career, in 2014, has he failed to appear in 157 games, and that health/ability to stay on the field, always makes Fielder a solid option. At least that’s what history tells us. Unfortunately, plenty of folks don’t seem to believe in that. They see two homers and a .190 average through 22 games with Fielder and they go running. Even with him stinking it up in April did you know that Fielder is still on pace for 100 RBI this year. That’s good, is it not? Folks, Fielder has only once in his career had a BABIP under .283. It’s just .206 this season. The number will rise. Only once in his career has Fielder had a HR/FB ratio under 12.2 percent. It’s just 8.0 right now. That number will rise. Fielder is still spreading the ball all over the field. In fact, his struggles have not been because he’s trying to pull the baseball. His current 34.4 percent pull rate is three percentage points below his career mark. Be buying, not selling, with Cecil’s son.
Matt Holliday is batting .238. People are panicked. Don’t be. Holliday has an 11 percent walk rate. His career mark is 10 percent. Holliday has a 15.1 percent K-rate. His career mark is 16.4 percent. Holliday has an .850 OPS. That’s below his .904 career mark, but it’s also above his .811 and .804 mark the past two seasons. Also, his .850 OPS is better than Nelson Cruz (.849) and Andrew McCutchen (.842) just to name a couple of fellas. Don’t give up on the vet.
Marcus Semien is batting .200 with a .269 OBP. That stinks. However, in the context of shortstops there is still enough here to be interested. Last season Semien made an error every 4.3 games. This season he’s committed an error per 11 games. His glove isn’t going to lead to him being taken out of the lineup. As for his bat, there are still things to like, such as his power. Semien is on pace to crest 30 homers, and other than Trevor Story (wink, wink) how many other shortstops are legitimate 20 homer threats? Don’t forget Marcus was one of only three shortstops in baseball last season to go 15/10.
Ben Zobrist has one homer, one steal and is batting .246 with a .354 SLG. The power will improve, he plays every day, and the guy still gets on base with a .390 OBP. He’s hit third 10 of his 18 starts as well with five more starts coming out of the five hole. Keep the faith.
DAILY DOSE
Check out on of my videos each day.Today I'm talking about injuries to Shane Greene and Huston Street on the pitching side and Carlos Gomez on the hitting.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).