The Cubs have designated right-hander Michael Fulmer for project, per a staff announcement. That transfer will clear house on the lively roster for the reinstatement of lefty Shota Imanaga, who’ll return from the injured checklist to start out at this time’s recreation.
Fulmer solely joined the massive league membership final week. He’d been pitching properly with Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate in Iowa, working to a 2.96 ERA with a 32% strikeout charge and 11% stroll charge in 24 1/3 innings. His two appearances with the Cubs have been robust. He totaled three innings and held opponents scoreless on simply two hits and no walks with one strikeout.
That is the second DFA of the season for Fulmer, the 2016 American League Rookie of the Yr winner with the Tigers. He opened the season as a member of the Purple Sox, having signed a two-year minor league deal within the 2023-24 offseason as he rehabbed from Tommy John surgical procedure. He made only one huge league look with the Sox, permitting three runs in 2 2/3 innings, earlier than being designated there as properly.
Now 32 years outdated, Fulmer broke into the majors with 26 begins and 159 innings of three.06 ERA ball for the ’16 Tigers, claiming Rookie of the Yr honors within the course of. He was a key member of Detroit’s rotation for the following couple seasons earlier than accidents intervened. Along with Tommy John surgical procedure, Fulmer has additionally undergone an ulnar nerve transposition process in his proper arm in addition to surgical procedure to restore a meniscus tear in his knee. Detroit moved him to the ’pen early in 2021, and he went on to pitch fairly properly as a better and setup man between the Tigers, Twins and Cubs over the following two-plus seasons.
Whereas he’s not the high-end beginning pitcher he was early in his profession and even the hard-throwing, high-leverage reliever he was from 2021-23, Fulmer has typically appeared strong in his first full season again from that UCL alternative. He’s pitched 36 innings of three.00 ERA ball in Triple-A, averaging 92.7 mph on his heater there — he sat 94.3 mph in his two main league outings with Chicago — and pitched properly in his newest MLB look.
The Tigers can have as much as 5 days to discover trades earlier than Fulmer should be positioned on waivers to make sure that his DFA is resolved throughout the one-week most. (Waivers take 48 hours to course of.) He might be waived at any time prior, in fact. If Fulmer passes via waivers unclaimed, he’ll have the precise to reject an outright project to a minor league affiliate with the Cubs and as a substitute discover alternatives with the league’s 29 different groups.
