Birmingham Barons starting pitcher Carson Fulmer earned plenty of ESPN face time with Vanderbilt, the College World Series champion in 2014 and runner-up a year ago.
Fulmer even picked up a fan in Doug Mientkiewicz, whose Chattanooga Lookouts faced the former Commodores ace Saturday night at AT&T Field.
"I watched him on TV when he pitched in college," the Lookouts manager said before the game. "I'm looking forward to watching him tonight, because I like the way he works fast, and he has electric stuff. We'll see what we can do."
The 6-foot, 200-pound Fulmer was roughed up during his first three Double-A starts but was impressive against the Lookouts, pitching six scoreless innings and getting the win in Birmingham's 6-0 victory before a crowd of 4,419. Fulmer allowed four hits while striking out six and not allowing a walk.
Birmingham broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the seventh inning, getting doubles by Nicky Delmonico and Joey DeMichele and singles by Trey Michalczewski and Jake Peter.
Fulmer was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 15th round of the 2012 draft out of All Saints Academy in Winter Haven, Fla., but opted to delay his professional career by enrolling at Vanderbilt. He began his career as a reliever with the Commodores before moving into the rotation during the 2014 season, when the Commodores won their first national championship in any men's sport.
In three seasons in Nashville, the right-hander racked up a 24-3 record, which was highlighted by a junior year in which he went 14-2 with a 1.83 ERA in 19 starts. His 19th start came against Virginia in the opening game of last year's College World Series, when he struck out eight and allowed just two hits in a 5-1 Commodores triumph.
The Cavaliers denied Vanderbilt a second straight CWS title by winning the next two games.
Fulmer was drafted last June by the Chicago White Sox as the eighth overall selection. He received a signing bonus of $3.47 million.
"I know who he is, but it's really the same plan for us no matter who we face," said Lookouts right fielder Daniel Palka, who did not cross paths with Fulmer several months ago in the Arizona Fall League.
Fulmer entered Saturday night with an 0-3 record and an 8.53 ERA. His toughest outing was his first, when the 22-year-old failed to last three innings at Jacksonville on April 8 before giving up five runs.
Several Lookouts admitted they didn't know much about Fulmer's background, so there wasn't an added excitement level as a result.
"There shouldn't be, because he's a Double-A player now," Mientkiewicz said. "The Double-A level is a tough year to start. We really couldn't scout him from what he did at Vanderbilt, because your hitters are better one through nine than the college players. We watched a little bit of film, but until you get in the box, you don't really know.
"We try to tell our guys to stick with their strengths regardless of who's throwing."
David Hurlbut (1-1, 5.84) is scheduled to start today's 2:15 p.m. game for the Lookouts, with Jordan Guerrero (0-0, 4.85) scheduled for the Barons.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.