Getting it right: Sox draft Fulmer No. 8 overall
The White Sox made the right pick at No. 8 overall Monday night.
With the current starting rotation stacked with four left-handers, the Sox didn't hesitate selecting Vanderbilt righty Carson Fulmer on the first round of the draft.
"His pedigree is something that speaks volumes about the type of pitcher he is," said Doug Laumann, the White Sox' director of amateur scouting. "He has pitched on the biggest stage, won a World Series, and he's on his way back to another World Series this year.
"He's taken the ball every night on Friday nights in a league (Southeastern Conference) whereas it stands right now could have five of the eight teams going to the College World Series. We've got a lot of history on him. I've known him for some time.
"(Assistant scouting director) Nick (Hostetler) has been watching him for several years now in the summers, so we were excited we were able to get him."
Fulmer, 21, was named Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year and is one of four finalists for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award this season after going 13-2 with a 1.82 ERA, 2 shutouts, 3 complete games and a .186 opponents average in 17 starts with the Commodores.
The 6-foot-0, 195-pounder also has 152 strikeouts in 114 innings.
On Saturday night, Fulmer pitched 6⅓ shutout innings against Illinois as Vanderbilt won the Super Regional opener in Champaign.
"We're going to hear different things about an unconventional delivery, things of that nature, but you can't pass on guys that win and guys that are effective and guys that get people out," Laumann said. "He's got a dynamic pitch. His breaking ball is his strikeout pitch. He's 93-96 (mph), 98, carries it late into game. We're excited to get him."
If possible, Hostetler was more excited than Laumann.
"I made a comment earlier this week that he's a guy for me that you want in between the lines," Hostetler said. "He battles, competes. He's also a guy off the field, I have two daughters, and I hope a guy like that marries one of my daughters.
"Just a terrific kid. For us he was the best college guy in the draft. We never want to really look at path. We want to look at development and what he's going to be at the end.
"But I think in the end, we are looking at it and we think he's going to help us here not only the quickest but also at the same time his ceiling is the highest for what we are trying to do."
Repair shop:
After he gave up 2 more home runs Sunday while his ERA rose to 4.93, Jeff Samardzija obviously needs to make some adjustments.
The right-hander leads the Sox with 11 homers allowed this season.
"There are some (pitches) that are coming back over the middle," manager Robin Ventura said. "We are going to talk about some things. I don't know if it's necessarily mechanical stuff. It's location of being able to consistently hit certain spots. I think some float back over and you end up paying for it."