A day in Brooklyn: Gavin Cecchini does some things very right

“I should really go to a Cyclones game.” I’ve been saying this for years, but on Thursday 6/20/2013, I finally did.  First of all, let me tell you that MCU park is a nice park to watch a game.  It was clean, the sight lines were good and atmosphere (with the rides of Coney Island moving in the background) is pretty awesome.  I decided to make the trip on Irish Heritage night (lacking any Irish heritage of my own but still delighting in Celtic culture) and on the first “Jersday Thursday” of the Cyclone season.  I’d like to thank Brett Firfer for the pictures that he was kind enough to send me after the game.  I hope he and his son enjoyed!

Jersday Thursday: If you would like to participate in one of these promotions, let me tell you that you need to buy your tickets in advance and get to the park early.  Only the first 3000 fans in attendance come home with the free souvenir and showing up at 5:00 for a 7:00 start put me around 1800^th in line.  That said, the promotion was pretty nice and I will consider going again.

Now For The Scouting…

Gavin Cecchini:  I made a note before the game of the only Met prospect to pop out of the dugout to sign autographs for the kids.  Cecchini, who was among the first players on the field, spent a few minutes giving some young fans autographs and I had to smile when I saw it.  The first thing one will notice about Cecchini is that he has a good arm.  You could tell he had a good cannon during warm-ups and I got to see a few plays in the field where some prospects I’ve watched might not have been able to make the throw.  He also has good range and seems to be a competent fielder.  He’s not Omar Vizquel with his glove and I wouldn’t rank his arm with the likes of Jose Reyes but I think he’s capable of sticking at short stop.  His hitting was less impressive.  He has a slower swing than I’d want to see from a guy without a lot of pop.  He didn’t ever look bad at the plate and he showed good patience with the Ironbird’s pitching, who were wild at times.  I also got to see him steal a base.  He’s not Patrick Biondi, but he’s also no slouch himself.  He could round into a 10 HR/15 SB player in the majors but that is still 3-5 years in the future.

L.J. Mazzilli:  I like the swing.  Now… I also liked Reese Haven’s swing so be warned that I’m not the best judge of swings.  It was level and quick and seemed to generate the most consistent hard hit balls for the Cyclone lineup.  Mazzilli hits 3^rd in this lineup which is a testament to this line-drive swing.  Defensively he made a few plays but was never really challenged.   His arm is better than some second base prospects I’ve seen and he could probably cut it at 3^rd in a pinch.  I would vote him “Most Likely to Reach MLB” of the position players I watched.

Jared King:  King is a solid player but I have doubts about his eventual power.  He’s about as big as he can get and he projects as not having a ton of power or a ton of speed.  He did have the longest drives of the night for the Cyclones including a high double that beat the Ironbird’s left fielder.  I have to say that I didn’t think I saw a major league future last night.

Matthew Oberste:  The scouting report said he had power and I was pretty darned confused why Oberste then bunted with a 2-0 lead to get a runner to second.  It was a good bunt… so I guess that showed fundamentals.  The swing didn’t have any obvious defects but he didn’t really drive anything during the game.

Patrick Biondi:  Biondi might be the steal of the 2013 draft.  Of all the hitters in the Cyclone lineup, Biondi felt like the most professional.  He has a quick, short “Inside-Out” swing that should get him in base and his steal was about 2 seconds ahead of the throw.  He’s very much capable of becoming a legit leadoff hitter for the Mets down the line.

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