White Sox: Carson Fulmer Improving While Pitching in Charlotte
White Sox top ranked prospect has responded well to demotion to Triple-A Charlotte. In his last two starts, Carson Fulmer has pitched two scoreless outings with the Knights.
Carson Fulmer struggled mightily to start his career with Double-A Birmingham at the beginning of the season. After settling down and adjusting to Double-A hitters, Fulmer found himself with a promotion to the White Sox after the All-Star Break.
Unfortunately for Fulmer, his time with the White Sox wasn’t as good as he would’ve hoped. The 2015 first round draft pick struggled with the big league team. There were some glimpses of brilliance from Fulmer, but it was overshadowed by poor outings. Fulmer was demoted to Triple-A Charlotte on August 17.
In his first start with the Knights, Fulmer didn’t last more than one inning. The start for Fulmer on August 19 against the Gwinnett Braves was downright atrocious. Fulmer gave up six earned runs in one inning pitched. With a dreadful start behind him, Fulmer would start to adjust to Triple-A hitters and his statistics improved.
Fulmer’s second start with the Knights was much better than his first, but it wasn’t a long outing. The former Vanderbilt Commodore pitched four innings against the Durham Bulls on August 23. In the start, Fulmer recorded four strikeouts and gave up one earned run. Despite a short outing, this was a drastic improvement over his first start with Charlotte.
Although Fulmer didn’t have any long outings with the Knights in his first two starts, his last two starts have been solid. On August 28 against the Norfolk Tides, Fulmer pitched five scoreless innings. In the start, Fulmer recorded five strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter.
However, Fulmer might have saved his best start for Saturday against the Tides. With the Knights trailing the Gwinnett Braves by one game in the International League South to began the day, Charlotte desperately needed a quality start from Fulmer on Saturday. Fulmer delivered for the Knights by pitching six scoreless innings against the Tides in a 3-0 victory for Charlotte.
In the start against the Tides on Saturday, Fulmer recorded five strikeouts and gave up two walks. Although he gave up seven hits, Fulmer’s ability to keep the Tides from scoring speaks volumes about his improvement with Charlotte. With the Knights in a playoff race, its good for Fulmer to get some exposure to pitching for a contending team. Even though that contending team is in the minors.
If the Knights can reach the postseason, Fulmer will most likely start a game for Charlotte. If the Knights are unsuccessful in their pursuit of the playoffs, expect Fulmer to rejoin the White Sox soon. The Knights season ends on Tuesday. After a 7-2 victory in game two of their doubleheader on Saturday, they will need two victories over Gwinnett to reach the playoffs. Charlotte trails Gwinnett by a half game entering play on Sunday.
More from Southside Showdown
This article originally appeared on 
