Detroit Tigers: Michael Fulmer doesn’t allow home runs anymore
By Matt Snyder
Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Michael Fulmer has allowed home runs at the lowest rate in baseball among qualified starters.
Michael Fulmer had himself one heck of a game on Thursday afternoon as the Detroit Tigers topped the Kansas City Royals 7-3 at Comerica Park. Fulmer nearly completed the game but was ultimately pulled after 8.2 innings with two earned runs charged against him. He struck out seven batters and walked zero on the afternoon and, as you might have guessed given this post’s title, didn’t allow a home run.
Fulmer has quietly become on of baseball’s stingiest pitchers when it comes to the long ball. Here’s a fun fact from Austin Drake, who happens to work on Fox Sports Detroit’s production team.
After yesterday, Michael Fulmer has now gone 73.2 consecutive innings since his last HR allowed. That is the longest active streak in MLB.
— Austin Drake (@austin_drake) June 30, 2017
Fulmer’s last home run allowed came on April 29 against the Chicago White Sox. That game capped a four-start stretch in which he allowed a home run in each outing. Since then — ten consecutive starts — he has kept every batted ball in the field of play.
You might have heard that home runs are being hit at a historic pace this season and that many signs point to the ball being juiced due to slight changes in construction. None of that seems to be affecting Fulmer.
Starting pitchers have averaged 1.27 home runs allowed per nine innings pitched this season as a group. Notable pitchers Chris Sale and Lance McCullers rank third and second in home run rate allowed at 0.71 and 0.66 HR/9 respectively. Fulmer has blown them both out of the water with a 0.35 HR/9 rate that’s nearly half that of the next best pitchers.
Fulmer has allowed just four home runs all season in a total of 15 games and 101.2 innings pitched. No other pitcher with 100 or more innings has given up fewer than nine home runs on the season.
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It’s probably unreasonable to expect Fulmer to continue on his current pace, but he was better than average at preventing home runs in his rookie campaign as well (0.91 HR/9). In fact, if we combine 2016 and 2017’s stats, Fulmer still comes out with the lowest HR/9 rate in the major leagues among pitchers with 250 or more total innings.