Beloved Cyclones first baseman Cole Frenzel is getting another taste of southern hospitality.
The North Dakota native has climbed up a rung on the Mets farm-system ladder again, landing a spot on the roster for the single A-level Savannah Sand Gnats for the second time this season.
Frenzel — who replaced former Sand Gnat Aderline Rodriguez on July 13 when he got called up to the St. Lucie Mets — earned the slot this time thanks to his strong performance on the field, leading the team in batting with a .342 average over 19 games.
Clones spokesman Billy Harner said he was sad he won’t see Frenzel’s 6-foot-2, 208-pound form manning the bag anymore, but he was happy to hear of the ballplayer’s success.
“It’s always a bittersweet thing when guys who have played so well here and have won so many fans move on,” Harner said.
Frenzel started in Coney Island as a seventh round Amazin’s draft pick last July, and immediately turned heads on the diamond, at the plate, and even in the dugout — thanks to a tattered, tape-covered mitt he had worn ever since he started playing first base with the University of Arizona Wildcats in 2009.
“In this glove, every ball sticks in the pocket. That’s why I like it,” Frenzel told this newspaper last year.
The mitt served him well in his first year of minor league ball, where he led the NY–Penn League with a .997 fielding percentage, committing just one error in 371 total chances in 2011.
In May, the slugger got called up to Georgia to replace an injured player, but Frenzel got bumped back down when the Sand Gnat recovered.
After his stint in Savannah, Frenzel rejoined the Cyclones and parted with his first glove — but he kept playing well and was even named the league’s player of the week on July 2.
Frenzel’s dedication and effort impressed Cyclones skipper Rich Donnelly as much as it wowed the fans.
“No one’s worked harder than Cole,” Donnelly said earlier this year.
And he appears to be off to a good start in Georgia, hitting his first homer as a Sand Gnat on July 17.
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at (718) 260–4507 or e-mail him at wbredderman@cnglocal.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/WillBredderman
