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Sean Sullivan

2026
Rockies· LHP · throws L· 22.1 IP· 8.87 ERA· 2.01 WHIP· 114 BF
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Grade

How good he's been, and at what
Fbetter than 2% of pitchers at limiting bases
StarterCommand Artist

Rarely walks anyone and lets the defense work.

Sullivan is getting hit harder than most pitchers

The simulator expects 0.503 bases allowed per batter faced against him — better than 2nd percentile of qualified pitchers. The soft spot is Strikeouts (9th percentile).

114 batters faced · data through 2026-08-22.

How to read this chart
Each spoke is a skill estimate adjusted for sample size (not raw season stats), so farther out = better. Spokes are the metric itself; ↓ marks a rate where a LOWER number is better. Percentiles vs. 464 qualified pitchers — 100+ batters faced, starters and relievers pooled.

Plays like…

Same archetype, nearest by rate — pick one to see him side by side with Sean Sullivan.

Germán MárquezPadresMichael LorenzenRockiesNick LodoloRedsMiles MikolasNationals

Pitcher type

What kind of pitcher he is, next to the league

Pitcher type

Where he sits among qualified pitchers on the two skills that separate styles.

How to read this chart
Two skills separate pitching styles: finishing hitters without free passes (strikeout rate minus walk rate) and keeping the contact they do allow soft (hard-hit rate against). Every dot is a qualified pitcher this season; dot size tracks batters faced. Click any dot to open that pitcher's page.
 Sean SullivanLeague medianPercentile
Bases per ball in play(lower = better).673.5282nd
Walk rate(lower = better)10%9%35th
Strikeout rate(higher = better)18%22%9th

100th percentile = best in MLB.

Arsenal

What he throws, and what it does

Sean Sullivan leans on his four-seam fastball (46% of pitches). No pitch has beaten league-average results yet — the sweeper has come closest.

Pitch mix & swing-and-miss

−4 bases worse than a replacement arm this season

allowed 68 bases vs a replacement arm's 63 over the same batters faced

Replacement level is per-batter and can't be split by pitch type, so the bars below use league average.

All pitches

16.1 bases cost vs league average, across 388 pitches — 4.1 per 100.

Four-Seam Fastball
46%
87.6 mph · LHP median 93.6
16% whiffs · Lg median 21%
cost 6.2 per 10011.8 total
Sweeper
18%
75.4 mph · LHP median 81.1
10% whiffs · Lg median 30%
cost 1.7 per 1001.2 total
Changeup
16%
77.1 mph · LHP median 85.0
22% whiffs · Lg median 30%
cost 2.4 per 1001.6 total
Cutter
15%
82.7 mph · LHP median 88.1
19% whiffs · Lg median 22%
cost 2.4 per 1001.5 total
Sinker
not charted
6%
86.6 mph · LHP median 93.1
—
—

His sinker isn't in the charts below — only 24 of them were tracked with velocity and movement data this season.

How to read this chart
What they throw, how hard, and what misses bats — from pitch tracking, regular season only.

Mix by batter side

Four-Seam Fastball
45% vs LHH · LHP median 33%
46% vs RHH · LHP median 40%
Sweeper
23% vs LHH · LHP median 31%
15% vs RHH · LHP median 19%
How to read this chart
How the mix shifts against lefty and righty bats. Medians are among left-handed pitchers who throw that pitch at least 3% of the time — between 48 and 127 of them, depending on the pitch. Overall results by batter side are under Platoon splits.

By appearance

How the stuff has held up outing to outing

One point per outing — how his velocity, movement, and pitch mix have moved across the season, with league context for scale. Each pitch keeps the same color in every chart. His sinker isn't in these charts — only 24 of them were tracked with velocity and movement data this season.

Platoon splits

How he fares against lefties and righties

Platoon splits (EB/PA allowed)

Better vs LHB than vs RHB by 0.038 EB/PA allowed (modeled).

50% probable range: +0.029 to +0.047

vs LHB37 PA0.476

vs LHB: shrunk estimate 0.476 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.454 to 0.499, based on 37 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.630 EB/PA. League median vs LHB: 0.454 EB/PA.

Raw vs LHB rate (0.630) is off this scale — small samples like this are exactly why the shrunk estimate (the dot) is the trustworthy number, not the raw one.

vs RHB77 PA0.514

vs RHB: shrunk estimate 0.514 EB/PA, 50% probable range 0.491 to 0.535, based on 77 plate appearances. Raw (unshrunk) rate: 0.613 EB/PA. League median vs RHB: 0.440 EB/PA.

Raw vs RHB rate (0.613) is off this scale — small samples like this are exactly why the shrunk estimate (the dot) is the trustworthy number, not the raw one.

0.4280.4580.4870.5170.546
← betterworse →
Below league medianAbove50% probable rangeHis raw rateMiddle half of the league

About the typical split for a lefty arm (median 0.039). He allows more than the league median against both sides.

How to read this chart
  • Tap or hover any mark for its number, or tab to a row for all of them.
  • His raw rate is the unshrunk number against that side — small samples make it noisy, which is why the model pulls his estimate toward a more trustworthy value.
  • “Middle half of the league” is the 25th–75th percentile of all pitchers against that side.
  • These are bases allowed, so lower is better. Weighted by how often he faces each side, the two splits average back to his modeled overall EB/PA allowed — not the xEB/PA headline at the top of the page, which folds in strikeouts and walks differently.
  • Shrunk splits beat raw splits on held-out seasons, most decisively at low batters-faced counts (relievers especially), and converge with the raw numbers as exposure builds.

Contact allowed

What hitters do when they connect

Batters go to the pull side off him most often, and that's where the hardest contact comes from.

Pull and oppo are relative to each batter's stance, so this pools all the hitters he faced.

Batted balls allowed

Where every ball hit off Sean Sullivan landed this season.
hit · out
EBlowhigh
vs Bryce EldridgeHome run
EV 107 mph · LA 30° · EB 3.8
07/04 vs Giants
vs Willy AdamesDouble
EV 96 mph · LA 28° · EB 3.3
07/04 vs Giants
vs Wilyer AbreuHome run
EV 103 mph · LA 34° · EB 3.2
06/23 vs Red Sox
vs Otto LopezHome run
EV 100 mph · LA 31° · EB 3.1
06/29 vs Marlins
vs Bryce EldridgeDouble
EV 104 mph · LA 33° · EB 2.5
07/04 vs Giants

Luck check

Escaped damage 3 times — crushed balls the simulator scores as near-certain hits that died in gloves behind him.

vs Connor WongOutRobbed
EV 105 mph · LA 21° · EB 2.2
06/23 vs Red Sox

Burned 4 times — balls with a hit probability under 20% that found grass anyway.

vs Dansby SwansonHome runCheap hit
EV 102 mph · LA 46° · EB 0.0 · xBA .016
06/17 vs Cubs
How to read this chart
Dot color is estimated bases (EB) — what the contact was worth, regardless of what the defense did with it. So a dark hollow ring in the outfield is a crushed ball his defense ran down. Tap or hover a dot or a row to link the two, and use the ▶ links to watch a play on Baseball Savant.

Earned vs. actual

Batters have been credited about 11 more bases than their contact off Sean Sullivan earned — his results have run unlucky so far.

Earned off his contact allowed57
Actually credited to batters67

over 84 balls in play · walks and strikeouts excluded on both sides

How to read this chart
Every ball in play is worth the bases its exit velocity and direction usually earn. Comparing those earned bases with the bases batters were actually credited shows whether his results have been lucky, unlucky, or fair.

ERA 8.87 · WHIP 2.01 · BABIP against 0.367 (Lg median 0.286)

Best games

His biggest outings this year

Best games

His best outings this season by bases saved vs a replacement arm.