By almost any standard Binghamton’s Michael Fulmer is a pitching ace. It’s becoming almost a habit that every Fulmer outing is something special. The intensity he brings, the repertoire of pitches he displays and his toughness on the mound are special indeed.
Often a pitching ace can bring the heat. With a fastball that sits comfortably in the mid 90’s, a pitch Fulmer can crank two or three ticks higher, Fulmer uses his fastball as a signature pitch. But, Fulmer has more pitches in his tool kit including a slider he throws at varying speeds and a change-up with tail.
Pitching aces command the strike zone. That’s the case with Fulmer. Tuesday night Fulmer dominated New Britain fanning 9 batters in six innings of shutout work without walking a batter as the B-Mets downed the Fischer Cats, 3-0.. In 86 innings on the hill for Binghamton Fulmer has now struck out 83 and walked only 23.
The big right-hander gets ahead of batters consistently. Tuesday he threw first pitch strikes to the first 12 batters he faced before falling behind in a count.
But, ace pitchers need more than a signature pitch, varied pitchers and superior command. They must also have the capacity to somehow bring their A-game to the hill night after night, again and again and again. In his last 9 appearances for Binghamton covering 53.1 innings, Fulmer has allowed 4 earned runs.
He has struck out 61 batters and allowed only 9 base-on-balls during that time. Tuesday’s scoreless outing improved Fulmer’s record to 6-2 for the B-Mets and lowered his ERA to a minuscule 1.88.
And, finally, a pitching ace, a number one pitcher, compiles statistics that compare favorably with other aces that formerly pitched for their team or currently pitch for other team’s in the league.
At present, Fulmer’s 1.88 ERA leads all pitchers in the Eastern League. The chart below shows how Fulmer’s numbers in Binghamton stand tall with the terrific young arms in the Mets system that recently used Binghamton as a stopping point on the way to Citi Field.
Michael Fulmer is more than a better-than-average pitcher in Binghamton. The hard throwing right-hander has all the qualities of a pitching ace. That means the Mets would be well served to think long and hard before including Fulmer in a trade for that elusive bat Met fans covet.
(Photo by Adam Rubin, ESPN)
