Rays 2016 Top 50 Prospects: Number 42, Brett Sullivan

Rays Top 50 Prospects includes a tremendous number of high-quality prospects. We at RCG are bringing you an in-depth look at those we consider to be the Top 50.

While gathering as much information as possible from various sources, we’re going to put it all together for your enjoyment and raise the bar on what you expect from a prospect knowledgable site. Stay tuned, check-in often, and please let us know how we’re doing.

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Being such a lengthy process, some encouragement will go a very long way. We hope you’ll enjoy reading this series as much as we enjoy putting it together. If anything, all of us will know that much more about the quality of the Rays system.

The rankings will be based on all aspects of each prospect, but will focus first on how likely the player is to make an impact in MLB, and ceiling next. Mike Mahtook and Enny Romero have been graduated to the majors and will not be included in these rankings.

Once completed, the Top 50 will be updated mid-season with an explanation to why they’re moving up or down, and the entire process will be repeated each season.

The next player to be examined in detail is …

#42: Brett Charles Sullivan, 3B, 21 years old

Bats: Left Ht/Wt: 6’1″ 180 lbs
Drafted: in the 17th round of the 2015 draft
2015 Affiliate: Princeton Rays, Rk
Anticipated MLB Arrival: 2020+

Sullivan’s Stats

Sullivan’s Fielding Stats

Sullivan’s 2015 Splits

Player Facts

His older brother was also selected in the 2015 draft by the White Sox
Father played baseball and football at Sacramento State
Majored in Communication
Played SS for the Pacific Tigers
Pacific State stats are available here
Had his best performances when leading off in 2015, where he hit .328/.358/.672 with 15 extra-base hits in 64 AB
Had 20 multi-hit games in 2015

Best Tools & Abilities

Ability vs LHP
Power potential
Makeup

Our Thoughts

Brett Sullivan comes from an athletic background and his entire family has a focus on baseball. The main reason the Rays drafted him as a 2B and not a SS is that although he has adequate range, it’s not above-average when at SS. However, since then, they’ve moved him back across the diamond to 3B, mostly due to his strong arm and quick-twitch reflexes. It seems he still has some things to work out there, as he only managed a .900 fielding percentage (17 errors) and didn’t display above-average range at the position.

The interesting thing in Sullivan’s case is that his power potential does play well enough for him to play 1B. Surely, the flexibility of having him play 3B or 1B would be an asset for them and so he’ll likely continue getting time at 3B. It remains to be seen where they have him begin the 2016 season, at 1B or 3B, but if they want him to hone in on his power-hitting ability, they may decide to leave him at 1B.

Expectations

There’ no doubt that Sullivan has intriguing power, but he’ll have to increase his OBP and SLG in order for his bat to play at the position. We expect it to be hard for him to learn how to play a strong 3B defensively and improve his bat, but that with the background in baseball that he has, anything is possible. We’re not going to discount the possibility that he moves over to 2B, or that he improves enough to be adequate defensively at 3B. Sullivan’s worth ethic and makeup allow us to believe he’ll do what he can to try to improve his overall game.

Conclusion

The Rays have many other intriguing 1B prospects in their system and so it’s hard to see Sullivan make much headway there. The more likely scenario is that the Rays continue to work with him at 3B in hopes that he improves enough to play the position.

Next: Tampa Bay Rays Top 50 Prospects: #10 Ryan Brett

As with so many other young Rk league prospects, Sullivan has a long road ahead of his to make an impact in MLB. While the power potential exists, he’ll need to improve his hitting ability to crack the top 30 on this list. Still, we expect that his success at the end of the year will feed into 2016 and that he could exceed many people’s expectations.

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