Cory Sullivan: Quite A Trip
10/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 12, 2005
By Jay Reddick
When Cory Sullivan stepped up to bat in Denver last April 9, it marked the end of a long journey. He's spent every day since making sure it was also the beginning of a longer one.
After three years in the minor leagues and a year in injury rehab, Sullivan reached the major leagues that day, doubling as a pinch-hitter in his first big-league appearance with the Colorado Rockies. Since then, he has proven himself as a solid pro a lot quicker than anyone thought he would - including himself.
"It's surreal," Sullivan said. "I came into the spring not knowing what to expect, just trying to focus on staying healthy, and one by one, things fell into place."
Sullivan was hitting .292 with five games left in the regular season, but that doesn't begin to tell the story of his year or what led up to it. In March 2004, he was on the Rockies' 40-man roster and figured to get his first stint in Triple-A to start the season. Then his elbow popped, and the news from the doctors was the worst: reconstructive surgery, done for the year.
Sullivan, who was living in Scottsdale, Ariz., made the most of it. He stayed in Colorado for the entire summer, bought a suite behind home plate at Coors Field to watch every game, rehabbed the injury the best he could and waited for his chance.
"I only had limited ability to lift weights with my upper body for a long time," he said. "It was frustrating."
After a stint in the Arizona Fall League ("I needed that to get used to the soreness in my elbow and shoulder," he said), it was back for another March, another stint on the spring roster, another chance. This time, no injury was stopping him.
"People were judging me (in the spring) on just a health basis," Sullivan said. "I wanted to do something more." He did that, hitting .386, earning team spring MVP honors and a spot on the opening-day roster. That's what brought him to home plate that April day.
This year hasn't always been easy for Sullivan, 26. He has been the starter in center field against right-handers for much of the season, and had a .300 average as late as early July, but an August slump (he hit .214 for the month) led to a stint on the bench and a stern lecture from manager Clint Hurdle.
"I hit a rough patch," Sullivan said. "I learned that the hardest thing about being in the majors is staying in the majors. Since then, I've just been trying to do the little things and be consistent."
Besides the wake-up call from Hurdle, Sullivan credits the chance to play every day with his resurgence. Larry Bigbie had become the team's everyday center fielder in what local media said was a tryout for the starting job in 2006, but Bigbie was felled by an injury Aug. 20, and Sullivan took advantage.
He hit .341 over the next 12 games, including 10 starts, and had a star-making performance Sept. 5 in Denver with four hits and two strong over-the-shoulder catches in a victory over the Dodgers. That was only the beginning of a stellar September: a .381 average in 22 games. Now, Sullivan is seen by many in the organization as the center-fielder of the future.
"It reminded me of the days when Maddox used to play center field in Philadelphia," Hurdle told the Rocky Mountain News. "They'd say, 'Three-quarters of the world is covered by water, and the other third is covered by Garry Maddox.'"
Sullivan can dream of a 15-year career like the Phillies' stalwart of the 1980s. For now, he's just trying to get comfortable.
"I've been very fortunate," Sullivan said. "The majority of the team is young guys who came up together through the minor-league system, so I've got a good group of friends here - we have 15 guys going to dinner together some nights. It's made it easy to relax. Hopefully, I can get used to it."