New Jersey Recruit

[ORU-sisko]

11/29/05 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom

Mt. Olive's Sullivan has elbow surgery

BY JOE HOFMANN

DAILY RECORD

Last summer, the velocity of Jerry Sullivan's once-lethal fastball had dropped from the mid-90s to the low-80s. Where did his heater go?

Mount Olive's senior soon found out what was wrong: He needed Tommy John surgery.

The righty, who was expected to be chosen in the Major League Baseball draft in June, had ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction Nov. 22. He is expected to be out 12-15 months.

Sullivan is disappointed, of course -- but he is not shattered. He will miss playing with his friends on the Marauders basketball and baseball teams, but he is looking at the larger picture.

The injury was detected to be almost a full year old, yet Sullivan was still invited to the prestigious Aflac All-American High School game in Aberdeen, Md., in August.

The 6-foot-4 inch, 195-pound Sullivan figures he was throwing 94-95 mile-per-hour fastballs with the injury, so how hard will he be able to throw with a healthy arm?

"We're looking at this as a blessing," he said. "There is a huge upside here."

In the meantime, Sullivan has signed a national letter of intent to play for Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, OK. Oral Roberts is coached by Rob Walton, a New Jersey native who is also the coach of Team USA.

"I went out there for a visit and fell in love with the place,"Sullivan said. "I had interest from junior colleges, but other schools were concerned about the injury."

But his days of pitching for Mount Olive are over.

"This is very unfortunate,"Marauders coach Tim Sumereau said. "He was a three-year starter. We all waited for him to be a senior, and now he won't be able to play."

The Marauders had hoped to ride Sullivan's right arm to a big season and enjoy the notoriety that accompanies having a potential Major League draftee on the same team.

"It'll hurt us, obviously,"Sumereau said. "We were looking forward to the attention. The kids all like Jerry and they wanted to be a part of the whole production. It's a devastating blow."

"I love basketball and baseball," Sullivan said. "It's a blessing in the long run that I was able to have the surgery. I will be back.

"I'm a little bummed out, but I wanted to get the surgery done sooner and be ready for next year."

In the summer, Sullivan noticed that his velocity began dropping and took three weeks off from pitching.

He said he started re-habbing and got some of the pop back on his fastball. But the scouts told him they needed to know his health status before taking a chance on him in the draft.

The procedure was performed at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan by Dr. Dave Altchek, who is the former Mets team physician.

Sullivan has been wearing a cast and will have it removed Thursday, when he will begin wearing a brace. He said he is taking pain killers to take the edge off his sore arm, which "feels like someone is squeezing it," he said.

"It's my senior year, but the prognosis is a lot better down the road. The doctor said that it is quite an accomplishment to throw so hard with an injured arm. When I heal from it, it should come back stronger."