Fulmer Blazes Trail To Majors — College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects

CHICAGO—Off to their best start in a decade, the White Sox showed they are serious about staying competitive this season by releasing ineffective lefthander John Danks and eating the remaining $11.9 million on his contract.

The ripple effect reached all the way down to Double-A Birmingham, where righthander and top pitching prospect Carson Fulmer has shown steady improvement.

The eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft, Fulmer broke slowly from the gates with the Barons, losing his first three starts while allowing 12 runs on 12 hits and 10 walks in 13 innings.

The 22-year-old Vanderbilt product struggled with his fastball command early on.

Over his next three starts at Birmingham, all wins, Fulmer settled in and gave up just five runs on 14 hits in 18 innings. He struck out 16 and walked three.

If he continues to take positive strides for the Barons while gaining pro experience, Fulmer could be on a similar track as Chris Sale and Carlos Rodon, a pair of former college starters who quickly made it to the majors after being White Sox first-round selections.

“There is no timetable whatsoever,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “I think we got spoiled around here by how quickly Rodon and Sale got themselves from college to the big leagues. It doesn’t mean that Carson couldn’t possibly be on that same path, but that is an atypical path. He had a rough couple of first starts and has sort of righted the ship the last couple times down there.”

While helping Vanderbilt reach the College World Series last year, Fulmer threw more than 130 innings, and he added 23 more innings after signing.

That’s a heavy workload for a prized young arm, so Chicago is being careful with Fulmer.

“We respond to what we see from them physically,” Hahn said, “as well as what they’ve had previously in terms of workload, and we try to adjust.”

CHI-LITES

• After coming up from Triple-A Charlotte on April 24 and preparing for his major league debut two days later, catcher Kevan Smith landed on the disabled list with a sacroiliac joint dysfunction in his back.

• Birmingham righthander Tyler Danish was named Southern League pitcher of the week for April 25-May 2 after pitching a complete-game shutout with six strikeouts.