DETROIT, MI – The Detroit Tigers purchased the minor-league contract of former Saint Joseph's College standout Charlie Furbush (South Portland, ME) on Friday.
The transaction means that Furbush, a 6'5" left-handed pitcher drafted by Detroit in the fourth round (151st overall) of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, has been added to the club's 40-man roster. Any player called up by the "big club" during the season must be on the 40-man roster, as this list of players can be moved freely from the minors to the majors.
For the Tigers, the move protects Furbush from being selected in the upcoming Rule 5 draft, which takes place annually in baseball's winter meetings. Any player drafted after age 19 who has served four years in the minor leagues, as Furbush has, can be selected by another team during the draft if they are not on a 40-man roster.
Fellow Mainer Mark Rogers, the fifth-overall pick in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, was added to the Milwaukee Brewers' 40-man roster last winter and made his major-league debut on September 10th.
Furbush began the 2010 season with the Tigers' Class A team in Lakeland, Florida where he racked up 109 strikeouts with just 14 walks in 77 innings. He earned Florida State League Pitcher of the Week honors on June 1st and participated in the FSL Mid-Season All-Star Game on June 12th.
He was promoted to Double-A Erie in late June and, after just five starts, moved up to Triple-A Toledo on July 22nd. Overall, Furbush tossed 159 innings with 183 K's, 40 walks and a 4.25 earned run average in his fourth minor league season. He posted an 8-9 record in 27 starts and had a 1.24 WHIP with 10.4 K/9 and 4.6 K/BB ratios last summer and his strikeout total ranked second among all minor-league pitchers in 2010.
Recruited to come to St. Joe's out of South Portland High School by Head Baseball Coach Will Sanborn '86, Furbush was a two-way player for the Monks for two seasons before transferring to NCAA DI powerhouse Louisiana State University for the 2007 season. In two years at St. Joe's, Furbush went 17-2 and notched a 2.38 ERA, a 0.95 WHIP and an astounding 12.2 K/9 ratio with 185 K's and just 33 walks in 136.1 innings.
As a sophomore, Furbush earned ABCA Second Team All-America, First Team All-NAC, NAC Player of the Year, NEIBA All-New England and NCBWA New England Pitcher of the Year honors. That year he went 10-1 with a 2.89 ERA and a program-record 115 strikeouts in 74.2 innings andled all of NCAA DIII Baseball with a 13.9 K/9 rate and was second in the NCAA- across all levels - in the category behind just one pitcher: Washington's Tim Lincecum, the two-time Cy Young Award winner for the 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants.
As one of the Monks' top hitters, Furbush hit .340 (83-244) with 54 runs, 14 doubles, three home runs and 50 RBI over two seasons.
He currently owns the program's career records for ERA (2.38), K/9 rate (12.2) and WHIP (0.95) and set single-season records for wins (10), strikeouts (115) and K/9 (13.9). Furbush helped lead the St. Joe's Baseball program to it's first-ever NCAA DIII Tournament appearance in 2006 and registered a victory against Bowdoin in his only tourney start.
His talent was discovered during two seasons in the Cape Cod Baseball League, often touted as the finest college summer league in the nation. In 2005, he showed flashes of his ability with 55 K's in 50 innings but his coming out party came in the summer of 2006, when he went 3-2 with a 1.83 ERA, 50 K's and 13 walks in 54 innings. He threw 133 pitches and fanned 12 batters in a no-hit performance and garnered the John Claffey New England Top Player Award that summer.
In one season with LSU, Furbush went 3-9 with a 4.95 ERA and 88 K's in 87 innings as one of the Tigers' top starters.
He split his first professional season between Detroit's Rookie League team in the Gulf Coast League and the club's mid-A team, the West Michigan Whitecaps. Between the two levels, Furbush went 6-1 with a 2.34 ERA, 69 strikeouts and just 14 walks in 61.2 innings during the summer of 2007.
Unfortunately, Furbush missed the entire 2008 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He returned healthy in 2009 and pitched in 24 games for Lakeland, where he registered a 3.96 ERA with 93 K's and 32 walks in 111.1 innings.
Furbush will report to spring training for Detroit in mid-February. The Tigers' camp is located in Lakeland, Florida.
FURBUSH STATS THRU 2010:
