Three Cyclones were selected to the New York-Penn League All-Star team: outfielders Ambiorix Concepcion and Dante Brinkley and pitcher Joe Williams. In addition, Concepcion was selected as the first Cyclone player to receive the league’s Stedler Award, given to the player thought most likely to go the farthest in professional baseball.
The 20-year-old Concepcion set single-season records for the Cyclones this season with 79 hits and 46 RBIs. He hit .305 with eight home runs. Additionally, one of his outfield assists was featured on an ESPN newscast, where it rated number three during a Baseball Tonight daily “Top 10.”
Brinkley, 23-years-old, hit .316, third in the league, and scored a team-leading 47 runs. He had 30 RBI and stole 13 bases.
The left-handed Williams, 23 years-old-old, had a 5-4 record with an ERA of 2.28, fourth in the league. Williams allowed 62 hits in 75 innings, struck out 64 and walked 26.
Stat man cometh
Ambiorix Concepcion and Dante Brinkley led the Cyclones position players in the New York-Penn Leagues final statistics:
Brinkley finished third in the New York-Penn League with a .316 batting average (TK!!), and Concepcion, with a .305 average (TK-HUH!!), was seventh.
Concepcion was tied for fifth in the league with 46 RBIs and Tyler Davidson was tied for seventh with 45 RBIs.
Brinkley was seventh in the league with 47 runs scored.
Concepcion stole 28 bases to finished tied for second in the league.
In home runs, Conception’s eight round-trippers was good for a four-way tie for eighth place.
In slugging percentage, Concepcion finished ninth at .475.
In on-base percentage, Brinkley was at .396, good for fifth in the league.
As for pitching statistics, the Cyclones had four starters in the league’s best for ERA.
Michael Devaney was third with an ERA of 1.95, Joe Williams was fifth at 2.28, Mike Swindell was 10th with 2.69 and Evan MacLane was 13th at 3.16.
Cyclones bullpen ace Celso Rondon was in a three-way tie for fourth in the league with 12 saves.
Hickory smoked
The Hickory Crawdads won the championship of the South Atlantic League this season by sweeping the best-of-five championship playoffs against the Capital City Bombers, a Mets farm team.
The Hickory team, a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate, featured many performers who were promoted in the Pirates system from the 2003 Williamsport Crosscutters, who defeated the Cyclones to win last year’s New York-Penn League champion.
The Bombers team featured many former Cyclones.
Blake Whealy, Andy Wilson, Shawn Bowman, Seth Pietsch, Ryan Harvey and Greg Ramirez were just some of the 2003 Cyclones who played for Cap City, as were Yunir Garcia, Stacy Bennett, Ivan Maldonado and Carlos Muniz, who played for the Cyclones in 2003 and this season.
The Hickory squad included Bensonhurst native — and Cyclone killer — Anthony Bocchino.
Scrappers win
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers won the New York-Penn League championship by sweeping the Tri-City Valley Cats in the best-of-three series.
Mahoning Valley defeated Tri-City 6-5 at the Scrappers’ ballpark in Niles, Ohio on Sept. 12, and took the championship with a road win over Tri-City by a score of 4-2.
Alumni report
The Cyclones have finished their fourth season, and the Mets’ farm system is full of former Clones. Some of the alumni even appeared in the major leagues, with the Mets and other teams.
Lenny Dinardo was effective earlier this year in the Boston Red Sox bullpen, and Tampa Bay’s Scott Kazmir beat the Red Sox recently.
Franklin Nunez was a Cyclones pitcher last season and now he is in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ bullpen, which means that the Devil Rays have two more Cyclones alumni on their pitching staff than do the Mets.
The Mets now have two former Cyclones on their roster, infielder Danny Garcia and catcher Joe Hietpas. Garcia is batting .233 and Hietpas was just called up to round out the end-of-season expanded roster, but as of this writing he has yet to see action.
Down on the farm, Cyclones first base alumnus Ian Bladergroen was having a terrific season with the Capital City Bombers, batting .342 with 13 home runs and 74 RBIs in only 72 games before suffering a season-ending injury.
Also at Capital City was outfielder Ryan Harvey, who hit .325. Bombers first baseman Andy Wilson hit .286 with 19 home runs and infielder Blake Whealy hit .281 with 23 blasts.
Leading Cap City pitchers included: Yusmeiro Petit at 9-2 with a 2.39 ERA; Greg Ramirez at 7-0, 2.06; and Bryan King at 8-0, 4.02
Another former Cyclones first sacker is Jay Caligiuri. He had a high average hitting in Brooklyn, but at St. Lucie he hit only .238 this season. But Caligiuri hit 18 home runs, an outstanding total in a league in which home runs are traditionally scarce. Caligiuri also made a few appearances with triple-A Norfolk.
Infielder Brett Harper hit .350 in 60 games at St. Lucie and he had 55 RBIs. Catcher Zack Clements hit .313.
Pitcher Kevin Deaton was 6-3 with a 2.99 ERA for St. Lucie.
At Binghamton, outfielders Angel Pagan and Wayne Lydon showed promise. Pagan hit .288 with 29 stolen bases and Lydon hit .270 and stole 65 bases.
On the mound, Jason Scobie was 5-5 with a 2.82 ERA.
In triple-A Norfolk, infielder David Bacani hit .264. Mike Jacobs hit only .177 and sat out most of the season with an injury.
Pitcher Blake McGinley was 3-3 with a 4.05 ERA and Bob Keppel was 3-7 with a 4.71 ERA.
September 25 , 2004 issue
