The wealth of potential future All-Stars on the Tigers' pitching staff makes it easy to forget about the former ones. Even easier when Michael Fulmer and Joe Jimenez pitched the way they did last season.
Combined appearances: 35. Combined wins: 1. Combined ERA: 8.05.
All-Stars? Not last year, and honestly not for a while. Not since the very moment they were celebrated as such, Fulmer at age 25, Jimenez at age 23.
In eight starts after his All-Star nod in 2017, Fulmer went 1-6 with a 5.33 ERA. In 22 appearances after his All-Star nod in 2018, Jimenez went 1-3 with a 7.78 ERA. Neither has recovered since.
For Fulmer, injuries have been the problem, injuries he'd been dealing with for a while. His arm eventually gave out in the spring of 2019. Last season was his first chance to shake off the rust after Tommy John, and he had to do it in the majors. His velocity was down and the results were ugly.
The problem for Jimenez -- well, take it from his new manager.
"There’s a great responsibility when we hand you the ball with the lead that you go out and execute," A.J. Hinch said Thursday. "And for him, execution has been a huge issue."
Jimenez lost the job of closer midway through last season. Not ideal for the pitcher once touted as Detroit's closer of the future. Like Fulmer, he didn't have the same mid-to-upper 90's fastball he's known for. His slider was off. He pitched well in September, but by then it was too late.
"At the start of the season I can’t say that my slider was there," Jimenez said Thursday. "Coming from quarantine, it was difficult for me to get ready in such a small period of time. At the end of the year I finally had it. It’s just a shame that we didn’t have a longer season so I could prove that it was there."
Jimenez, now 26, is bullish that he can still be the pitcher he was. He didn't allow a run in his final seven appearances of 2020, around the same time his fastball was heating back up. He defies the idea that the first two months of a stilted season reflect what he's become.
"You can’t judge somebody on just a few games," he said. "It’s crazy how everybody thinks, 'He had 10 games and he didn’t do that well, so we’re going to judge him.' I just think it’s crazy how people say it like that, because you can’t tell how the year is gonna go in those 10 games."
It was 18 games of ugliness, to be exact. It was also the duration of the 2019 season when Jimenez logged a pedestrian 4.37 ERA, and the second half of the 2018 season. So Jimenez has an increasing pile of evidence to prove wrong, and an increasingly distant flash of excellence to prove right.
Jimenez said his body feels good. He said his arm "feels amazing." The stuff is still there, judging by the end of last season. So is the hunger, judging by the start of spring training.
"He’s been around our complex this entire offseason," said Hinch. "I’ve spent a lot of time with him in my first couple of days here just getting to know him. He’s very driven, he cares. I think he has a little chip on his shoulder that he’s got something to prove. He’s gotta earn the opportunity to get back in that high-leverage role."
We'll see where Jimenez starts the season. Right now, he's likely behind Bryan Garcia and Gregory Soto in the conversation for closer. Fulmer, on the other hand, is already pegged for the rotation. Hinch said he plans to have him start "one of the first few games" of the season. The Tigers want to know what they have in the former Rookie of the Year.
Surely, so does Fulmer. 2020 was a season to forget. The Tigers limited him to three-inning starts in his first action in nearly two years and Fulmer only hit his target half the time. He had the third highest ERA (8.78) and the highest WHIP (2.06) in the majors among pitchers who logged at least 25 innings. He didn't have close to the same pop on his fastball.
He also didn't have the same frame. Fulmer, who turns 28 next month, lost weight over the course of his rehab, and in the process lost some of his base. So he spent this winter re-strengthening his legs in hopes of recovering his velocity. This spring will tell us a lot. This season well tell us the rest.
"I don’t want to put limitations on him," Hinch said. "He’s moving around good, he's pretty upbeat, very determined. He feels like he’s got something to prove, too. He’s one of the few former All-Stars that we have on this team that wants to get back to performing at an elite level."
There are others in the lineup, headlined by Miguel Cabrera. Jonathan Scoop and Wilson Ramos round out the list. But those three are placeholders for a team in transition. Jimenez and Fulmer are still young enough to be pieces, still strong enough to give this rebuild a lift. There are All-Stars on the way for the Tigers.
And maybe, just maybe, a couple on the way back.