TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama senior pitcher Charley Sullivan and senior catcher Brett Booth were selected Saturday on the third day of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft.
Sullivan was picked in the 29th round by the Detroit Tigers, while the Houston Astros selected Booth in the 34th round.
Sullivan, a native of Oxford, led the Crimson Tide with 16 starts in a team-high 94 1/3 innings. He was 5-7 with a 3.82 ERA this season. He had a team-high two complete games and finished his senior season with a team-best 76 strikeouts. He made 10 starts during Southeastern 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 was 9-12 with a 4.12 ERA in 187 2/3 innings. 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 native of Northport, Ala., led the 2013 Tide with a .290 batting average. He was 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. Booth also threw out 37 of 78 (.474) would-be base stealers.
In his career, Booth played outfield and designated hitter as a freshman, third base as a sophomore, and catcher 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 RBI 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 two and a half seasons, he appeared in the starting lineup in Alabama’s last 158 straight games. Booth becomes 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 signee 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 as a senior.
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