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The last two years, Michael Fulmer has owned a 3.06 ERA, and that coincides with him increasing the usage of his slider to the point where he is throwing it almost 65% of the time this year. That includes almost 72% of the time versus right-handers, who are posting just a 401 OPS(!) against him this year.
Twins fans may remember the right-hander as less dominant, as he’s been knocked around by the Twins twice over the last month, including giving up two critical runs in last night’s Twins win. Overall, since July 1st, he’s been less effective, with a 6.55 ERA, though he’s also struck out 11 in 11 innings pitched, and not given up a home run.
But he’s also walked seven over that span, and control has been an issue with 20 walks in 39 innings this year. But that’s not terribly uncommon for a slider-first pitcher. Overall, his performance has not matched his relatively encouraging numbers: his Win Probability Added (WPA) is -0.22, though it was in positive territory before last night's Twins comeback. Since the Twins play the Tigers again tonight, it's possible that Fulmer will simply switch dugouts and be available for tonight's game.
Fulmer is purely a rental for this season. He is due to become a free agent at the end of this year for the first time in his career.
The 29-year-old is far from a dominant reliever but he has proved to be a fairly reliable arm, and the slider-first philosophy meshes well with the organization and pitching staff. He should remain in fairly middle to low leverage situations since the Twins also acquired Orioles closer Jorge Lopez earlier today. As such, his job will be to provide manager Rocco Baldelli at least a little more depth to handle some of the middle-inning issues that have cost the team several games.
To acquire Fulmer, the Twins traded right-handed pitching prospect Sawyer Gipson-Long. The 24-year-old was the Twins sixth-round pick in the 2019 draft out of Mercer. This season began in High-A Cedar Rapids where he went 5-2 with a 1.99 ERA. He had 52 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings. He was recently promoted to Double-A Wichita and is 3-4 with a 7.17 ERA over 37 2/3 innings. He has 35 strikeouts. Overall this season, he has 19 walks and 87 strikeouts over 87 1/3 innings. He ranked #20 Twins Prospect by Twins Daily in July.
With just minutes remaining before the trade deadline, will the Twins make any more moves?
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