Two Alabama seniors, right-handed pitcher Charley Sullivan and catcher Brett Booth, were selected on the third day of the 2013 MLB Draft. Sullivan was picked in the 29th round by the Detroit Tigers and Booth was a 34th-round selection by the Houston Astros.
Sullivan, a native of Oxford, Miss., led the Crimson Tide with 16 starts, totaling a team-high 94.1 innings pitched in 2013. He finished the season with a 5-7 record and a 3.82 ERA. He had a team-high two complete games and finished his senior season with a team-best 76 strikeouts. He made 10 starts during conference play, posting a 5-4 record with a 3.39 ERA in 61 innings.
In his three seasons at Alabama, Sullivan appeared in 46 games with 29 starts. He compiled a 9-12 record with a 4.12 ERA in 187.2 career innings pitched. Sullivan becomes the 40th player from Alabama to be drafted since the 2005 season and is the 18th Crimson Tide pitcher to be drafted over the last nine years.
Booth, a Northport, Ala., resident, led the 2013 Tide with a .290 batting average, while finishing second on the club with a career-high six home runs. He was second on the team with 46 runs scored and 27 walks, while adding 10 doubles and 38 RBIs. Behind the plate, Booth was one of the best catchers in the country at throwing runners out, as he threw out 37-of-78 (.474) would-be base stealers.
In his career, Booth played a number of positions, including outfield and designated hitter as a freshman, third base as a sophomore and catcher both his junior and senior seasons. He finished his career at Alabama with a .263 batting average after having a career-high .290 average as a senior. He had 31 doubles, 13 home runs and 111 RBIs in his career with the Tide.
Booth played in 216 games, while appearing in the starting lineup 205 times in his four years at the Capstone. Over the last 2 1/2 seasons, he appeared in the starting lineup in Alabama’s last 158 games. Booth became the 41st player from Alabama to be drafted since 2005, and is the fifth Tide catcher to be selected over the last nine years.
In addition to Sullivan and Booth being picked, Alabama recruit Nick Eicholtz (Odessa, Fla.), a right-handed pitcher and shortstop from Cambridge Christian High School, was a 29th-round selection by the Milwaukee Brewers. Eicholtz posted a 5-1 record with a 0.73 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 48 innings pitched his senior season of high school.