ANAHEIM, Calif. — The baseball season was in full swing. But Carson Fulmer was at home, because no team wanted him.
This was in the spring of 2023, and Fulmer, then 29 years old, had little to do but watch the transaction wire, to sit back as other players he knew signed on for long-shot attempts to reach the big leagues. Each one reinforced the realization that nobody thought he was even worthy of a similar look.
Fulmer has been designated for assignment six times in his career. Optioned nine times more. He’s been claimed off waivers six times, outrighted thrice and released once. A former phenom and top prospect, Fulmer had gotten all too used to his career being kicked around like a hacky sack.
But after getting let go by the Seattle Mariners, to his surprise, late last spring, suddenly all the chaos came to a disquieting halt.
“I was fortunate enough to be a pretty high pick,” Fulmer told The Athletic. “And when that happens and you’re given so many opportunities, you really don’t see it happening that way. It was tough. I had a bunch of buddies that were playing. You try to keep yourself going.
“It was a really hard time for me. Probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through.”
Fulmer was the No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox. But he was more than just a top draft pick. He was a college baseball legend. The Vanderbilt ace threw 127 2/3 innings with a 1.83 ERA en route to a 2015 College World Series championship game appearance.
He looked ready-made. And had the intense demeanor to become a presence in the sport. Fulmer was as close to achieving national stardom as a college pitcher could possibly be.
Fulmer reached the apex of the college baseball world with Vanderbilt. (Peter Aiken / Getty Images)
Fast forward eight years, and Fulmer was simply grateful when the Los Angeles Angels called in late May of 2023 to offer him a role as a Triple-A innings eater. He wasn’t just contemplating retirement at that time. He was on the doorstep of it — with his first child about to come.
“There’s a lot of guys that take things for granted,” Fulmer said. “I don’t want to be one of those.”
Fulmer did not always agree with the way he was developed. He said the White Sox tried to calm his max-effort delivery — possibly out of a concern that his arm wouldn’t hold up under the strain of significant innings.
It did not lead to success. And his fastball, which sat in the mid-90s and touched the upper 90s in college, instead sat in the low 90s with the White Sox.
Fulmer believes that his natural delivery provided a lot of deception for his best pitch, the changeup. He also says he has something of a rubber arm. One that is largely unfazed by heavy and strenuous work.
“I guess what he is saying, as I understand, ‘Don’t make me change until I fail,’” said Steve McCatty, who was the pitching coach for the White Sox’s Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte. He pushed back on the idea that there was a top-down edict to change Fulmer. “I don’t think that’s the case. I did not experience that. Anybody telling me to do that. If someone did, I certainly don’t know about it.”
Regardless of who implemented the change, Fulmer didn’t revert back for years. It was only when he was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the minor league portion of the 2022 Rule 5 draft that he switched to his original max-effort delivery. It came with success. He posted a 2.86 ERA in Triple A that season.
Fulmer is 30 now. His spot long-term with the Angels is far from assured. Such is the reality of a long reliever. The second you pitch, your value to any big league roster is immediately diminished.
But in a season where Angels relievers have been ghastly, Fulmer’s stability has been necessary. He has a 3.21 ERA over his first 14 innings. No one would confuse him with a Cy Young Award winner, even if that was once hoped to be his ceiling.
Fulmer, though, believes he’s turned a corner in his career and that he’s a late bloomer who has figured something out. Whether that’s embracing his delivery, or moving to the center of the rubber, he’s in a good place.
“I love him, man. He’s everything that’s been advertised,” said Angels pitching coach Barry Enright. “The kid always wants the ball. His mentality is probably No. 1. I don’t think he takes anything for granted. And that’s his story. You draw from those failures that he’s gone through.”
Fulmer never got numb to his disappointments. He’s found some silver linings. Just reaching the major leagues, and continuing to get back, are major accomplishments in their own right.
But bouncing from the White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Dodgers, Mariners, Angels and seven more minor league affiliates, is an undeniable strain.
“He can reinvent, refine, reorchestrate, reorganize, whatever you want to call it,” said Derek Johnson, Fulmer’s pitching coach with the Reds. “He’s a super kid. He’s a good, good competitor. And that’s why he keeps hanging around. He’s willing to try something new that he hasn’t. I believe that’s a part of why he’s been able to hang on as long as he has.”
When Fulmer was on the edge of retirement last May, there were serious conversations with his wife, who was about to give birth to a son, the couple’s first child. He was sitting on the couch, literally, watching TV, when he got the call that the Angels needed him. Fulmer was on a plane that evening.
His son, Fox, was born just two weeks after he signed. Fox got to attend an Angels game late last season; they took a family photo that Carson said he’ll cherish. Someday, he hopes his son can watch him pitch and be old enough to internalize it.
“That’s why I want to continue to play,” Fulmer said. “I’m going to try my best to continue to play for as long as I can until he has that memory.”
When Fulmer first came on in relief Sept. 24 in Minnesota, it had been 29 months since he’d thrown off a big league mound. He threw 70 pitches that day
His prior appearance came for the 2021 Reds. He tossed two mop-up innings on May 20 of that season, allowing four runs in an ugly 19-4 loss. It was his fifth straight outing allowing at least one earned run, leaving a devilish 6.66 ERA on his ledger.
Fulmer was DFA’d the next day and went unclaimed. There was little reason to believe he’d get another big-league look.
To understand Fulmer now is to understand why he took the ball on Sept. 25, one day after that 70-pitch relief outing in which he gave up three earned runs. And to understand that, look no further than that 29-month gap.
“I’ve been in the big leagues in the past. I’ve been in the big leagues with a bunch of different teams,” he said. “But I’ve never been able to stick for a long time. In order to do that, I have to take advantage of every opportunity that I’m going to have.
“I’m always going to be available. I can always find a way to be ready. Adrenaline is a special drug.”
Adrenaline isn’t the first word that usually comes to mind surrounding a 70-87 team playing out its final few meaningless games in late September. For most established pitchers, an appearance like that would be a necessary evil of playing out the string.
But for Fulmer, it’s everything. That’s why he took the ball that day. That’s why he threw 27 pitches on two days’ rest after throwing 62 pitches earlier this season.
His career has been defined by the people and teams not letting him throw in the major leagues. So, wherever and whenever someone is willing to give him the ball, he’ll always say yes.
“I was a high pick, and I’m still here,” Fulmer said. “I’m looking forward to being able to live up to that potential that I was supposed to live up to.”
(Top photo: Omar Rawlings / Getty Images)
