Reese Havens, a Mets’ first round draft pick this year, was supposed to be Brooklyn’s regular shortstop this season.
Yet the shortstop position has been a revolving door, with 10 players manning the position, six of them actually seeming to hold the starting job, albeit briefly.
Opening Day found Brandon Richey holding down the job until the injured Havens was ready.
But Havens’s wounds were more severe than originally believed, so Matt Bouchard, a Cyclones regular last season, was called down to Brooklyn to help out. Bouchard played regularly for almost two weeks, but he injured his hip and Jake Eigsti, another Cyclone from the past, became the starting shortstop on July 1.
In mid-July, Matt Smith, on a rehab assignment from St. Lucie, started to become the regular when Eigsti didn’t hit. Smith played a lot of shortstop in July. Havens still hadn’t played shortstop because just as his elbow injury was almost healed, he pulled a groin muscle.
Then, on Aug. 10, Havens finally played shortstop, playing in that game and another the next day at the position.
But he would re-injure his groin, and not play shortstop for the rest of the campaign.
The Cyclones used a mix of shortstops in August, including brief appearances by Anderson Machado, J.R. Voyles, and even second baseman Josh Satin, for parts of two games.
Later in August, the Cyclones used Juan Lagares, a 19-year-old who had been called down from Class A Savannah. Then the Cyclones moved Lagares to third and now have an even younger shortstop, 17-year-old Wilmer Flores, the phenom called up from Kingsport.
Havens return to shortstop this season is up in the air, so Flores may be Brooklyn’s choice for the last few games — and possibly any play-off games.
