On 7/17 I had the chance to go back out to Brooklyn and watch the Cyclones play. I’m repeating myself but, it is a great ballpark and you should make the effort to get down there. The game was televised on SNY and people might have been watching at home. The starter, Casey Meisner, was not at his best. Yet one Cylcone came to play.
Amed Rosario did not receive high praise in my last review. He’s a free swinging shortstop who appears to be extremely physically gifted, but in the last start he was swinging himself out of his shoes. In this start things went better. Rosario looked a little shaky in his first at bat, knocking a double into center on a defensive swing, but his next four at bats were very nice. He first laced a no questions about it double and two opposite field singles on the way to showing me that he might be a more competent hitter than I had thought.
He’s not without some flaws:
- His arm looked a little weak on his throws across the diamond (though Michael Katz was also having a rough time being moved to first)
- He cut off a few throws back to the infield that didn’t really help the team’s cause
- I might never see him take a walk
I am still mightily impressed with the difference in the maturity of his approach at the plate. He should be starting 2015 in Savannah where mid-season promotions could see him to the majors by 2017. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet though.
Jhoan Urena is still really good – I said that I could see him being the “Heir Apparent” to David Wright. I mean that in the sense that he’s timed to be getting to the majors around the time I expect Wright to be breaking down. Urena is a switch hitter with power, speed, contact and pretty solid defense. He belongs on the top 20 prospect list.
Deal or no Jeff Diehl – With Michael Conforto set to make his debut on Saturday the Cyclones are looking for a way to keep Michael Katz’s bat in the lineup. Unfortunately that means that Diehl could find himself out of a job. Diehl is very much a hitter in the mold of Edgardo Alfonso. He averaged 9+ pitches in each of his at bats at the game.
Casey Meisner not so good – His fastball, which isn’t that fast, was flat and when that happens people can hit it a long way. Also, I must complain that he might be the slowest pitcher I’ve seen since Steve Traschel. I got home at 1:30 AM last night!
Brad Wieck was strong again – He closed things out last time. This time he saw the Cylcones through 2 innings and put up 5 of the team’s 13 strikeouts.
From the stands – Best nickname of the evening goes to the rowdy quartet a few rows behind me, Mary Tyler Moore. (Classic!) They also kept wishing King Henry, “Happy Birthday!” for no reason and won $500 so I think they had a pretty good night overall.
Sadly, none of the beach bums noticed me in the stands and fell madly in love with me. There’s always next game.
David,
Love your minor league reports.
Is Michael Katz going to be another one of those Mets farmhands with a somewhat decent bat but no mastery of a defensive spot?
Yeah! Minor league baseball’s fun. But if one or two guys make it off a low A team to the majors that’s an accomplishment. Nathan’s over there always had the best Fries.
Finally! Amex Rosario breaking through, I’ve been looking at this kid forever. If he can just support a .270 average than he will be rising through the ranks quick.
Sidenote, Nathan’s has the worst hotdogs ever. You bite into it, and the skin stays in one piece, and the fillings squeezes out like toothpaste. Maybe I need to file my teeth or something, but I was highly disappointed when I had it. In baseball news, “Oh no, we suck again.”