Justin Verlander Battles Fox Sports Writer Over Fulmer For Rookie Of The Year Award
By: Evan Jankens
@kingofthekc
Michael Fulmer has been the front-runner for American League Rookie of the Year since July.
He has started 24 games for the Tigers this year and has posted a 3.03 a 1.083 WHIP with 120 strikeouts and a 10-7 record over 148.2 innings pitched.
August 3, Gary Sanchez was called up from the minors and became the Yankees everyday catcher. Over 44 games, he's done something no other Major League player has done in the history of the game. Over his first 45 games of his career (two games last season) Sanchez has hit 19 home runs. Hitting the long ball isn't the only thing that Sanchez excels at. He has a .333 batting average while driving in 38 runs and delivering a 1.150 OPS.
Fox Sports writer Dieter Kurtenbach wrote an article on their website with the title "Why Gary Sanchez should win American League Rookie of the Year."
In the story he says:
That unknowable question is at the core of Sanchez' candidacy for American League Rookie of the Year.
But if the question was simpler than that. What if it was: is Sanchez the American League Rookie of the Year?
The answer would be simple: Yes.
Justin Verlander, who has been known to voice his opinion on Twitter in the past, stuck up for his teammate Friday afternoon tweeting, "@MLBONFOX @dkurtenbach so you're telling me a rookie pitcher who could win era title is a poor season? @MFulmer12 #ROY."
@MLBONFOX @dkurtenbach so you're telling me a rookie pitcher who could win era title is a poor season? @MFulmer12 #ROY
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) September 23, 2016
Verlander makes a pretty good point, but right now Fulmer doesn't qualify for the ERA title since he hasn't pitched enough innings according to Kurtenbach.
He also doubled down on his stance that Sanchez should win the AL ROY with his rebuttal to Verlander.
Right now it's true that Fulmer has come back down to earth a little but his first half stats were "jaw dropping." He had a 9-2 with a 2.11 ERA in 13 starts. That's comparable to what Sanchez has done in less than half a season.
The two then continued their back and fourth.
Rookie of the.......... wait for it......... YEAR. Year I believe is a key word there. @dkurtenbach
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) September 23, 2016
Kershaw and I won MVP's so basically you're just saying pitchers can't win awards now?? I hope you don't have a vote https://t.co/PKIBf45EDn
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) September 23, 2016
I think Verlander dropped the mic on that last tweet but Kurtenbach decided to tweet one more little jab at Tiger fans.
Feel free to let Mr. Dieter Kurtenbach know what you think about his article. His twitter handle is @dkurtenbach.