Michael Fulmer

Why the AL Rookie of the Year is working as a part-time plumber this offseason

Published Dec. 9, 2016 1:12 p.m. ET

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Chris Bahr

Michael Fulmer just won the AL Rookie of the Year Award, but he won’t treat himself to some extravagant vacation to celebrate. Instead, he’ll be digging ditches or fixing a leaky faucet.

Huh?

Believe it or not, the Tigers right-hander has a part-time plumbing gig in Oklahoma during the offseason. It began last offseason when Fulmer subbed for a friend, whose uncle owns a plumbing business. From the Detroit Free Press:

“I don’t cut him any slack,” Larry Wright, Fulmer’s boss at Cyrus Wright Plumbing, a small, long-standing family business in Yukon, Okla., said. “He digs ditches and gets dirty and does whatever needs to be done.” …

“Generally, it’s hard,” Wright said. “When he’s working with me, he’s usually digging in or working on jackhammers. It’s pretty physical work, but he’s a great worker. He always wants to know more, he wants to know what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and he never complains.”

Fulmer is going to need a few extra bucks now that he has to take teammate (and 2006 AL Rookie of the Year) Justin Verlander to dinner.

Fulmer might even stick around to do the dishes.

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Michael Fulmer

Detroit Tigers

Major League Baseball