Michael Fulmer burst on to the scene last year after Shane Greene went down with a blister injury. For a team that struggled up to the final game of the year, Fulmer was one of a few bright spots the Detroit Tigers could hang their hats on. He pitched well enough to earn a spot, even after Greene came back, and eventually even won the 2016 Rookie of the Year award.
However, it’s his offseason that may endear him to a blue collar city like Detroit, even more so than wins. From Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein:
“When he first agreed to fill in for a friend by working for Cyrus Wright Plumbing in the fall of 2014, Fulmer saw an opportunity to keep busy in the winter, supplement his meager minor league salary, and get a different kind of workout—digging ditches for sewage lines and hauling water heaters… he kept coming back during the off-season, even as his baseball salary increased to the league minimum of $507,500 this year. From October until early January, when he begins his preseason throwing program, he climbs into his black Ford pickup at 7:15 a.m. about three days a week and makes the 30-minute trip to Yukon, Okla., where he and boss Larry Wright work eight to 10 hours installing equipment and fixing leaks.”
Read the full article here:
https://twitter.com/si_mlb/status/828673384108216320
When most guys go on vacation during the offseason, Fulmer has definitely taken the road less traveled. But regardless of his chosen workouts, one thing is for sure; in a town synonymous with blue-collar labor, having a guy–a budding star–like Fulmer on your team is something that fans can definitely get behind.
A wet pipewrench slips and there goes a million-dollar career.