The Keepers - #28 - OF - Darrell Ceciliani

28.      OF Darrell Ceciliani

Cecilliani was drafted in the fourth round of the 2009 draft by the Mets.

He immediately signed and played the entire season for Kingsport, going .234/.313/.310/.623 in 158 at bats. Only eight of his 37 hits went for extra bases.

6-30-10: - Cecilliani went 3-4 Monday night, which raised his 2010 Brooklyn batting average to .409. Yes, all three were singles, but he still has produced six extra base hits this season, only two less than he did all last season for Kingsport. Ceciliani was a questionable fourth round draft pick last season and most draft experts had him in the 8-15th round projected area. That being said, he’s off to a great start this season, and hopefully we’ll see his first professional home run soon.

7-9-10: - Cecilliani continued to rake, going 3-4 last night against State College. He also stole three bases and raised his hitting stats for the season to: .392/.442/.608/1.050.

7-19-10: - As of 7-19, Ceciliani is leading the NY-Penn league in hitting, with a .397 batting average.

8-6-10: - Ceciliani continues to have one hell of a season with Brooklyn. He went 3-5, 1-2B, 1-HR, 4-RBI last night and raised his batting average to .382. Normally, I would say that he is due for a promotion, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Mets keep him in Brooklyn so they have a better chance in the playoffs. Either way, he's a lock to play next season for St. Lucie, which means a skip over Savannah.

1-28-11 – This was an absolutely wonderful surprise pick in 2009. No one’s quite sure if he can maintain the levels he created in Brooklyn, but he’ll get another chance, probably in Savannah, in the spring. Let’s hope the new Mets brass aren’t into rushing high school kids like Omar was.

8-21-11: - http://metsmerizedonline.com/2011/08/prospect-pulse-left-handed-hitters.html   - Darrell Ceciliani – This 21 year-old center-fielder, who the Mets made their 4th round draft pick out of Columbia Basin Community College (Wash) in 2009, is still very raw, and if he does reach the majors, it won’t be before 2014. This year he has been the Savannah Sand Gnats everyday center-fielder. In three full seasons, (two short season, and this one) he has amassed 800 lifetime minor league AB’s, with a lifetime .283 BA. He has a .358 OBP, and a .403 SLG%, but his problem so far has also been too many K’s. His K/BB ratio reads: 173/78, and for a lead-off hitter those numbers need to improve.

12-19-11: - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/12/19/2622862/2011-mets-minor-league-season-in-review-savannah-sand-gnats  - OF Darrell Ceciliani - STOCK DOWN - After a stellar 2010 with Brooklyn where he batted .355 with 33 extra-base hits in just 68 games, the '09 fourth rounder came back to Earth with a so-so campaign for the Gnats. His numbers were down in pretty much every department, most significantly his BABIP which dropped from .430 down to .327. And the scary thing is that's still kind of a high number. And while his average naturally took a huge hit as a result, the bigger concern is the nearly 200 point drop in slugging he experienced.

Now Savannah is a notorious pitchers paradise and like his underwhelming debut campaign Cecilliani battled some injuries this season. However, it's undeniable that the sky-high enthusiasm that many had for him last winter has to be dashed...at least somewhat.

1-10-12 - http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/top-15-prospects-new-york-mets/   - 15. Darrell Ceciliani, OF: Ceciliani is yet another speedy center field prospect in the system. The left-handed hitter performs well against both right- and left-handers so he doesn’t have to worry about being platooned. He has solid base running ability, although he’s struggled with reading pitchers in the past. His profile suggests fourth outfielder but he has the chance to be a little bit more.

http://metsmerizedonline.com/2012/01/mmo-2012-mets-top-prospects-s-31-40.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MetsMerizedOnline-GetMetsmerized-NewYorkMets+%28Mets+Merized+Online%29   - 35 . Darrell Ceciliani (CF) This speedy 21 year-old, lefty swinging center-fielder, who the Mets made their 4th round draft pick out of Columbia Basin Community College (Wash) in 2009, is still very raw, and if he does reach the majors, it won’t be before 2014. This past year he was the Savannah Sand Gnats everyday center-fielder. In three full seasons, (two short season, and this one) he has amassed 800 lifetime minor league AB’s, with a lifetime .283 BA. He has a .358 OBP, and a .403 SLG%, but his problem so far has also been too many K’s. His K/BB ratio reads: 173/78, and for a lead-off hitter those numbers need to improve. If he can become a better contact hitter, he has the speed and ability to stay in centerfield.

1-20-12 - http://metsmerizedonline.com/2012/01/prospect-pulse-the-2012-st-lucie-mets.html   Darrell Ceciliani (CF) – When your game is predicated on speed, and you pull a hammy real bad, you got a big problem. That is pretty much what happened to the start of Darrell’s season last year. And even after he returned in May, he wasn’t the same player for much of the first half. But as the year wore on, the real Ceciliani began to re-emerge, and by the stretch-run to the play-offs, he was, at times, carrying the team. At years’ end the best hitters on the Savannah squad were Joe Bonfe, Ceciliani, and Alonzo Harris. Ceciliani is a top-of-the-order lefty-hitter with good gap power, who flies around the bases. In CF he covers a lot of ground and is a gritty, hard-nosed performer. He could be moved up to AA during the year, particularly if Captain Kirk gets called up to the bigs at some point. That would probably mean a promotion to AAA for Matt den Dekker, followed by a move of Ceciliani up to Bingo. Funny how that works. 

1-30-12 - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2012/1/30/2757346/2012-amazin-avenue-top-50-mets-prospects-21-30   - OF Darrell Ceciliani - One of 2010's most dynamic prospects, the 21-yr old Ceciliani found the Sally League a bit more challenging than his time with the Cyclones. The speedy lefty saw declines pretty much across the board, including most notably his 100+ point drop in BABIP. After posting a .430 mark last year we knew some regression was in order; the problem is even with a sort of high .327 mark in 2011, he was barely able to keep his average respectable. And while he was able to make some moderate strides being more selective in the second half, it came at the expense of some power. Ultimately, he did boost his walk rate above the 10% threshold which isn't insignificant. And he did maintain an ISO above .100, which is solid for a center fielder. He also continued to show off his excellent speed while manning a good center field. Hamstring injuries bothered him once again but he managed to bounce back relatively quickly. The offensive potential he showed in 2010 paired with the fact that he falls high on the defensive spectrum keep him relatively high on this list. However, we may have to revise his offensive ceiling from Jacoby Ellsbury down to the still respectable Brett Gardner.