FORTVILLE — It’s not rare for a high school student to have success in the classroom and on the playing field, but Mt. Vernon’s Cam Sullivan was able to take both to the highest levels.
Though it may not be rare to be good at both, Sullivan truly is at the top of his class in both.
“Sometimes you hear student-athlete as a cliche’. It’s not for Cam,” Mt. Vernon baseball coach Brad King said.
In May, Sullivan, ranked No. 1 in his class, gave the valedictory speech at the Mt. Vernon High School graduation.
In July, the hard-throwing right-handed pitcher was a seventh-round draft choice of the Cleveland Guardians.
“My first semester of high school I was ranked No. 1 in my class. I thought, ‘might as well win it now,’” Sullivan said. “I just held it all the way through.”
He admitted there was competitiveness in the classroom just like on the baseball field.
“You’ve got to be competitive in school in order to have a little success with it,” Sullivan added. “You are always competing with yourself all the time, getting better grades, passing classes, stuff like that.”
Sullivan said time management was the key to balancing books and baseball.
He did that well, but the Daily Reporter’s Hancock County Baseball Athlete of the Year, is going to put his schooling on hold for awhile.
Sullivan had planned on studying Business Analytics and pitching for the University of Notre Dame baseball team but he couldn’t pass up the offer from the Guardians.
The school and Sullivan knew this past winter that the Mt. Vernon standout would likely have options and a big decision to make when Major League Baseball held its annual draft in the middle of July.
The first Indiana high school player taken in the draft, and only Hoosier high schooler to be invited to the MLB draft combine in June, Sullivan was the 205th overall pick. He said last week the Guardians offered him fourth-round signing bonus money and it was an offer he could not refuse.
Sullivan called it, “A good chunk of change.”
In addition, the Guardians organization has a strong reputation in developing pitchers.
“If you told me a year ago that I was going to be signing a professional contract I probably would have thought you were nuts, especially for what I was looking for out of the whole thing,” Sullivan said after last week’s MLB draft. “I think the fit I got (with the Guardians) provides me the opportunity to get to the big leagues the quickest.”
He had quite a rise in stock throughout each of his high school seasons.
He had a scholarship offer from Notre Dame before he threw a pitch in a varsity game.
As a junior, his first varsity season, Sullivan went 6-0 with a 1.55 earned run average. In 40.2 innings pitched he struck out 78, walked 20 and batters hit just .151 against his pitching.
At some winter camps pro scouts starting noticing a little more pop to Sullivan’s fastball and higher spinrate on some off-speed pitches. At the combine he ranked eighth among high school players in both velocity (96.5 mph) and spinrate (2,933 rpm).
In his senior season at Mt. Vernon, due to a rainy spring, Sullivan threw less innings (37.1) and had less starts (seven). With two less appearances, he was 3-1 with a 0.75 ERA. He fanned 65 and offenses hit just .169.
He had better control, dropping his walk total from 20 to 13, wild pitch numbers from eight to two and hit batsmen from seven to one. He gave up 23 hits in each of his varsity seasons.
“I think I threw really well this season,” Sullivan said. “I pitched better than I did last year. I cut down on walks and threw less pitches and was able to throw deeper in games. Ultimately, that helped us win a couple more games in conference and to be competitive in more games.”
Sullivan was the ace on a strong Mt. Vernon pitching staff. The Marauders went 18-8 overall and 12-2 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference, winning the league for the fourth straight time.
The next step is to get to the major leagues.
He was scheduled to sign with the Guardians over the weekend. After that he will either stay at the Guardians facility in Arizona and work out or head to one of the organization’s affiliates.
“I’m stoked,” Sullivan said last week after the draft. “… In terms of starting pitching development, (the Guardians) 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.”
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2024 Hancock County Spring Sports Honors
Sport;Athlete of the Year;Coach of the Year
Boys volleyball;Eli Martin, New Palestine
Girls track events;Bella Sotelo, Eastern Hancock;Mark Foster, Greenfield-Central
Girls field events;Ellie Meyer, Eastern Hancock
Boys track events;Andres Langston, Mt. Vernon; Nick Clarkson, Mt. Vernon
Boys field events;Elliot Ryba, Greenfield-Central
Girls tennis;Kylie Brandes and Ava Lusby, Mt. Vernon;Gabe Muterspaugh, Mt. Vernon
Boys golf;Elijah Lemmon, Mt. Vernon;Cody Hibbert, Eastern Hancock
Baseball;Cam Sullivan, Mt. Vernon;Shawn Lyons, New Palestine
Softball;Coming July 31
