Upward mobility: Sullivan has taken leap in standings since joining Wild Things
Billy Sullivan knew something was amiss.
He sensed something was in the works, and the Joliet Slammers’ daily lineup card confirmed as much.
Sullivan expected that his baseball career was heading for a crossroads.
And as far the Wild Things catcher is concerned, it took the best route available.
Sullivan was the backup catcher for Joliet as the calendar changed to July. He had been playing several games a week for the Slammers, sharing the catching duties with Brandon Heidal. Then, Sullivan didn’t play in a three-game series at Lake Erie that began June 30.
“It was a nine-game road trip,” Sullivan recalled. “We started in Evansville. I played OK. Came (to Washington), hit well but had a little blunder defensively and then we went to Lake Erie. At the time, it was only me and Heidal and he caught all three games. At that point, I knew they had something in the works. I had my guard up. And I show up the next day, on July 4, in Joliet, and I see there’s a new bag with a catcher’s glove in the clubhouse. I was like, alright, they’re probably going to let me go.”
Sullivan was called into the office of Slammers manager Mike Pinto. Sullivan was informed that he had been placed on waivers. That’s often the panic point for a baseball player. Could his baseball days really be over? He was suddenly a catcher without a team.
“I kind of knew it was coming,” Sullivan admitted.
But there was a catch. The next thing Pinto told Sullivan was that Washington had claimed him off waivers. He was going to the Wild Things.
Suddenly, Sullivan had gone from fourth place in the West Division to first place in the Central Division.
“It was a blessing in disguise. I hold no ill will toward that organization,” Sullivan said of the Slammers. “They gave me my start in professional baseball. But for the role they needed behind the plate, from what I was told, they wanted a left-handed hitting catcher.”
Since being claimed by Washington, Sullivan has given the Wild Things a catcher who can hit, something they have rarely had in the last decade. He has been splitting the catching duties with Isaias Quiroz.
Sullivan has played in 42 games overall and is hitting .311. His on-base percentage while with Washington is a whopping .494. There hasn’t been much power as only three of Sullivan’s hits have gone for extra bases, but he has been a catalyst on offense. He’s even batted in the leadoff spot in the lineup. When was the last time you saw a catcher hitting leadoff?
“To be honest, I didn’t get off to the kind of start that I wanted offensively in Joliet,” Sullivan said. “I was trying to find things that worked. I made a swing adjustment that ended up working.
“Last year, I played with a broken hamate bone for six months,” Sullivan said. “But I had worked hard all offseason, I felt like I was making strides, things were trending in the right direction and then I struggled the first two months of the season. I was saying, ‘Why now?'”
Sullivan (5-10, 190), does not have the size of the prototypical professional catcher, but he’s scrappy, capable behind the plate and productive with a bat in his hands.
Sullivan, who is from Village Cottage, N.Y., and played college ball at Southern Connecticut State and Fairfield, recalled something that happened when Joliet played the series in July at Lake Erie.
“Some of my teammates went to Panda Express. My buddy brought me back a fortune cookie,” Sullivan explained. “It said, ‘Your doubts will soon turn to happiness.'”
That’s what Sullivan has experienced going from being waived to picked up by the first-place Wild Things.
“It was a very freeing feeling. … As soon as I got to Washington,” Sullivan said, “it was like I haven’t felt that free on a baseball field in a very long time. I was able to relax and play the game. At Joliet, I was playing afraid to make a mistake instead of just playing.”
Deadline move
Washington made one roster move at the Frontier League’s transactions deadline, which was Monday. The Wild Things signed outfielder Miles Simington, who played 87 games this year in the Mexican League.
The 26-year-old Simington, from Kankakee, Ill., played on York’s Atlantic League championship team last year and parts of three seasons with Winnipeg in the American Association. He has Frontier League experience, having played 21 games with Schaumburg in 2023.
The move was made because right fielder Jeff Liquori is on the 14-day injured list after suffering a broken thumb last week in a game at Mississippi.
Simington batted leadoff Tuesday night when Washington played a series opener at home against Evansville. The game ended too late to be included in this edition.