LAS VEGAS – Albeit short-lived, the big league debut of Rockies’ No. 11 prospect Sean Sullivan left Colorado with a platform to build on – not only in their eventual 6-4 loss to the Athletics, but also for the future.
The 23-year-old lefty tossed three scoreless innings at Las Vegas Ballpark on Friday night before his outing ended prematurely due to illness.
“He’s fine now, but he was sick as a dog, throwing up in the bullpen before the game,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He grinded for us today in his big league debut. I don’t know how much of that he’s going to remember, coming in between innings and throwing up.
“But he gave us three, and after that third inning he looked like death, so that was about all he had. But he did great for us.”
Sullivan flexed his stuff, allowing just two hits to a powerful A’s lineup. He struck out two, retiring nine of the 12 batters he faced.
The 2023 second-round Draft pick out of Wake Forest threw 49 pitches, 33 of them for strikes, becoming just the seventh Rockies starter to not allow a run in his regular-season debut, and the first since Ryan Castellani on Aug. 8, 2020.
“I obviously wanted to stay out there a little bit longer, but I tried to give them everything I had,” Sullivan said. “This was a huge milestone for me, one of my lifetime goals, so I’m happy I was able to accomplish it.”
Sullivan utilized a four-pitch arsenal (four-seam fastball, sweeper, cutter and changeup) and showed composure to escape some traffic on the bases after a 1-2-3 first inning. He stranded one runner in the second and two in the third.
The Rockies’ resolve gave in during the bottom of the fifth inning, when Shea Langeliers and Nick Kurtz knocked back-to-back solo homers off reliever Seth Halvorsen – making it all the more impressive that Sullivan saw the heavy-hitting duo twice and came away unscathed.
Entering a ballpark in which you had surrendered 12 hits, seven runs (six earned) and two homers for Triple-A Albuquerque on May 19 would have been a daunting task for most, but Sullivan’s reputation in the Rockies’ clubhouse is already that of someone with no fear.
“I can’t wait to play defense for him,” third baseman Kyle Karros – who played with Sullivan at Albuquerque – said before the game. “He was one of those guys that I would look forward to every week in the Minors, just because he’s going to pound the zone.”
Sullivan did just that. And with all the added context, he more than proved that the Rockies may have found something with him in the rotation.
Of Sullivan’s 49 pitches, 29 were four-seam fastballs, averaging 87.6 mph – and he was not afraid to test it against the A’s bats. He tossed the ball in the strike zone 25 times, and had he stayed in, he wasn’t going to let up.
“That’s always the goal when you go out there, to fill up the zone and let your defense work,” he said. “I have trust in them.”
Center fielder Cole Carrigg, who was drafted the same year as Sullivan – and gave the Rockies a brief lead at 4-2 with a three-run shot in the top of the sixth inning – said before the game that of all the things that Sullivan does well, his competitiveness stands out the most.
That much was clear in the limited outing. It was also apparent in the clubhouse afterward, with Sullivan already itching to get back out there, hoping to give the Rockies “at least five [innings]” next time.
“We’ve really liked him since Spring Training, just the way he competes,” Schaeffer said pregame. “We like his deception. I think that plays everywhere.”
It sure did in a tricky, hitter-friendly ballpark in Las Vegas. And the Rockies will be eagerly waiting to see how it does elsewhere, as Sullivan looks poised to nail down the fifth rotation spot in the coming weeks.