FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon’s Cam Sullivan is ready to start his professional baseball career.
The hard-throwing right-hander was drafted in the seventh round of the Major League Baseball Draft on Monday by the Cleveland Guardians.
On Tuesday, Sullivan, who had originally planned on playing collegiately at Notre Dame, said he plans on signing a pro contract with the Guardians this weekend.
“I’m stoked,” Sullivan said. “I feel like the fit is really good with their pitching development system. You hear from people in their organizations and from other organizations (they are one of the best in developing pitchers).”
Sullivan was watching the draft at home with his family and some friends. The first three rounds were conducted Sunday. Rounds 4 through 10 were Monday and the remainder of the draft wrapped up Tuesday.
The Marauder pitcher was the first Indiana high schooler, seventh player with ties to the state, and 205th overall selection.
He was the eighth player chosen, and sixth pitcher, by the Guardians, who selected Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana with the draft’s initial pick on Sunday. Sullivan was the third high school pitcher chosen by the Cleveland organization.
This past season, Sullivan helped lead Mt. Vernon to its fourth straight Hoosier Heritage Conference championship. Rainouts kept him from pitching more innings, but Sullivan was stellar when he was on the mound. Clocked regularly in the mid-90s with his fastball, Sullivan had 65 strikeouts in 37.1 innings pitched. He gave up just 23 hits and had a 3-1 record with a 0.75 earned run average.
In two varsity seasons for Mt. Vernon, Sullivan went 9-1 with a 1.17 ERA. He struck out 143 in 78 innings and gave up just 46 hits and 13 earned runs. Hitters batted just .160 against Sullivan’s pitching.
Invited to the MLB Draft Combine in Phoenix last month, Sullivan ranked No. 8 among high school pitchers in velocity (96.5 mph) and No. 8 in spin rate (2,933 rpm) on his cutter.
Sullivan will be heading back to Arizona this weekend to sign with the Guardians at their facility in Goodyear.
He said he wasn’t sure yet what he would do the rest of the season, whether it would be an assignment to one of the organization’s minor league affiliates or to stay in Arizona and workout until next spring training.
Whatever that decision might be, he is excited to get started.
“(The Guardians) are playing the best ball in the big leagues right now,” Sullivan said. “In terms of starting pitching development, they have a really good pitching development side, especially in the minor leagues. They are maybe a little bit ahead of some other teams. That’s kind of exciting when pitching’s my thing. I want to be successful for the long term.”
Along with a Rookie League team in Goodyear, the Guardians have minor league teams in Lynchburg, Virginia (Single-A), Eastlake, Ohio (High-A), Akron, Ohio (Double-A) and Columbus, Ohio (Triple-A).
“If you told me a year ago that I was going to be signing a professional contract (this weekend) I probably would have thought you were nuts, especially for what I was looking for out of the whole thing,” Sullivan said. “I think the fit I got (with the Guardians) provides me the opportunity to get to the big leagues the quickest.”
