June 30, 2003 / Sports / Brooklyn Cyclones

When will a Clone make it big?

By Ed Shakespeare

The Brooklyn Paper

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With the major league Mets struggling and sporting an infield that’s three-quarters rookies (all from the Mets’ farm system) — Ty Wigginton at third, Jose Reyes at short and Jason Phillips at first — will the parent Mets be calling up more players from their farm system, possibly some former Brooklyn Cyclones?

Have any Cyclones made the majors yet? Well, yes and no.

In 2001, outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo made a two game Cyclone “guest appearance,” on injury rehab, against the Staten Island Yankees. Shinjo was quickly recalled back to the Mets.

Mets’ pitcher Tom Martin made an appearance on injury rehab for the Cyclones in 2001 and later pitched for the Mets.

But the first “long-term” Cyclone to become a major leaguer was from Marine Park — trainer Mike Herbst, who moved from the 2001 Cyclones to the 2001 Mets as the assistant trainer.

Last year, Joe McEwing, the Mets’ utility man, played briefly for the Cyclones on an injury rehab and then quickly rejoined the major league club.

And here’s the “no” answers: Everybody else.

Prior to this year, 87 players appeared for the Brooklyn Cyclones, and, not counting the rehabbing Mets, not one has played in the majors.

From David Abreu to Joel Zaragoza, the alphabetical gamut runs dry. But this is really not so surprising. Here’s why.

The Mets have six U.S. farm clubs, plus farm teams in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The foreign teams mainly field young players from those countries.

The six U.S. teams in the Mets’ farm system start with Kingsport, which is termed a “short-season rookie team.”

Players from the Mets’ farm teams in the Dominican Republic and in Venezuela hope to move up to Kingsport, Tenn., the lowest rung on the United States ladder. High school players and players from smaller college programs often start their Met careers at Kingsport.

Brooklyn is the next rung on the ladder, and is considered a “short-season A team.” Brooklyn players are often draft picks just out of college and players who have moved up from Kingsport.

When a player from Brooklyn does well, he usually goes to the next step, which is Capital City, located in Columbia, S.C. Cap City is in the “low-A” South Atlantic League, but it plays a full season (from April through September), as do all the clubs higher than Brooklyn in the Mets system.

The next step is “high-A” Port St. Lucie in the Florida State League. After that, it’s up to Binghamton, New York in the “double-A” Eastern League. The top rung in the system is Norfolk, Va., where the Tides play in the “triple-A” International League.

Players who are doing well usually advance at the rate of one step a year, but this is not a hard and fast rule. Sometimes a player can do so well that he skips a step. Sometimes a player plays only part of a season and is promoted.

Players can stay at a level for more than a year because of an injury, a disappointing performance, a position change, or because they need to work on a particular skill. Players can even be demoted. Worst of all, they can be released.

Since the first Cyclone club debuted in 2001, many of those players, given reasonably successful progress, should be at Port St. Lucie Florida, and that’s just where many of the inaugural Cyclones are.

At St. Lucie, Forrest Lawson, the outfielder who played for the Cyclones in 2001, is hitting .284. Outfielder Angel Pagan is hitting .272 with 16 stolen bases, and outfielder Wayne Lydon is at .264 with 37 steals. Frank Corr, former Brooklyn outfielder who now mainly plays first base, is at .222. Infielder Joe Jiannetti is at .213 and Robert McIntyre is at .264. Chase Lambin, a 2002 Cyclone, is already up to St. Lucie, and he’s hitting .257. Catcher Brett Kay, a 2001 favorite, is hitting .270, and catcher Justin Huber, who briefly played for the Cyclones in 2001, is hitting .280 with eight home runs.

As for pitchers, Blake McGinley has continued his Brooklyn success as the lefthander is 4-1 with a sparkling 1.34 ERA. Luz Portobanco is at 0-1 with a 2.35 ERA. Harold Eckert, coming back from an injury, is 0-2 with a 3.24 ERA.

Many of the 2002 Cyclones are at Capital City, the step just above the Cyclones.

Blake Whealy continues to show power as he has 11 home runs with a .244 batting average.

Cyclone first-game hero Edgar Rodriguez is batting .333 for Cap City. Andres Rodriguez is at .280, Alhaji Turay at .257, John Toner at .224, and Corey Ragsdale at .167 — but he leads the team with 17 stolen bases.

On the mound for Cap City, former Cyclone Miguel Pinango has a record of 8-0 with a 2.58 ERA. Kevin Deaton, a 2002 Cyclone, is at 7-2 with a 2.54 ERA. Fireballer Scott Kazmir, the Mets’ first-round pick in the 2002 draft, has a 2-2 record with a 2.19 ERA.

At double-A Binghamton, catcher Mike Jacobs is hitting .302 with six home runs, and infielder David Bacani is at .240.

Pitcher David Mattox has a 2-2 record with a 2.25 ERA, and hurler Mike Cox is at 1-0, 4.12; Jason Scobie has a 2-4 record with a 4.14 ERA.

Danny Garcia, a 2001 Cyclone, is hitting .293 for triple-A Norfolk and seems to be on the brink of a call up to the Mets. Perhaps Garcia could be the first regular Cyclone player to play for the big club.

June 30, 2003 issue  

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