Mack Ade – AM Report – 9-6-13 –Mike Piazza, The Best of the Cyclones

 

Matt Kardos ⚾ ‏@mattkardos  - Cannot tell you how much talk there was in the ballpark tonight about how the Mets were ever able to nab Noah Syndergaard. Folks still puzzled

 

The Mets will not be retiring MIke Piazza’s number when he’s inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame on September 29.

Mack – This just doesn’t make any sense. If I was Piazza, this would be the last time you would see me involved with this team promotionally. The Mets fans desperately need something positive to grab oto right now and this would have been a big one. I just don’t understand the complete lack of humanity the Wilpons have. They’re like that old boss guy on the Simpsons.

 

Sadly, Brooklyn finished their season on a sour note. This is a tough team to project because there were so many older, college players that most other major league teams start off in their system at least one (or two) levels higher.

What I can do? Here are the seven players that do look like they have a future with this team.

They are:

 

2B LJ Mazzilli – 23-yrs. old - .286/.334/.391/.725, 4-HR, 34-RBI – Noboby has ever projected Mazzilli as a prospect and, though he has had a wonderful season, he should have been playing on a team like St. Lucie. Now, with the addition of Dilson Herrera, who will obviously play 2014 for St. Lucie, I really don’t know where to play this guy. Savannah seems like the wrong place and I’m not sure if his game is ready for Binghamton. What I hope doesn’t happen is holding Herrera back in Savannah and allowing the home-boy to go to Lucy first.

 

SS Gavin Cecchini – 19-yrs. old - .274/.320/.316/.636 – Okay, I get it. Cecchini was a good pick in the draft. He did go on the shelf this year which cost him in July (.077), but let’s give him his props for a .292 June and a .324 August. Now, like first base, the Mets havea difficult decision to make. Normally, Cecchini would go to Savannah, falling in behind previous prospect material Phillip Evans. Well, Evans had a miserable year in Savannah this season, and the right thing for the franchise would be to send Cecchini to St. Lucie to play next to Dilson Herrera in the infield. Look, we’re not stupid. We know who the prospects are and the quicker these kids get to play in the same lineup (also Nimmo) the better it will be for the team. Still, I think Cecchini is at least three years away, so playing 2014 in either Savannah or St. Lucie may be a moot point right now. This is your future shortstop.

 

RHSP Robert Gsellman – 20-yrs.old – 12-starts, 3-3, 2.06, 1.01 – Gsellman is an interesting story. He was a late player to the game that was quietly drafted in the 13^th round (2011) after a push by one of the Mets California scouts. He did pitch in seven games that year (4.15) and increased it to 11 games for Kingsport last year (5-starts, 3.92), but it was this year that the Mets decided to use him as a starter. It started out as a substitution in both Savannah (3.72) and St. Lucie (3.00) due to rotation injuries there, and he finally settled in to the Brooklyn rotation for their season. The combined stat line: 19-starts, 6-6, 2.58, 108.0-IP, 83-K, 23-BB. That’s a great season for a 20-year old. He’ll move up only one level to Savannah next spring.

 

RHSP John Gant – 21-yrs. old – 12-starts, 6-3, 2.33, 1.05 – Another late pick in 2011 that has (initially) worked out very well (the Mets seem to have this uncanny ability to create top rotations on the Cyclones). Gant was a 21st pick, which is usually reserved for roster fill. I never heard of him and thought it was that guy from the Ayn Rand novel. The Mets flew him to CitiField for a tryout prior to the draft and he signed for over-slot money of $185,000. It looks like it’s paying off. He played the entire Cyclones season, producing 79-K in 69.2-IP. Regarding 2014, Gant was born in Savannah, so I can’t see the Mets missing this public relation coup.

 

RHSP Miller Diaz – 21-yrs. old – 12-starts, 6-3, 2.01, 1.10 – I was acutally upset that he didn’t make the cut in Savannah at the beginning of their season this year. His combined stats for Kingport and Savannah in 2011 were 12-games, 6-starts, 2-2, 3.78, 47.2-IP, 53-K, 19-BB. That was good enough for me but there was simply too much talent at this level. Diaz was held back for the Cyclones and definitely past this test. He continues to be a strikeout machine with 82-Ks in 62.2-IP. Diaz may be the one Brooklyn pitcher that has an outside chance of bypassing Savannah and moving on to St. Lucie. We’ll have to wait and see.

 

RHSP Akeel Morris – 20-yrs. old – 14-G, 3-starts, 4-1, 1.00, 1.16 – Morris is an interesting reclamation project at 20-yrs. old. He was signed as a 16-year old bonus kid and was given the prospe t tage from the get-go. Everything went along well in 2010 (GCL – 8-G, 6-ST, 2.19, 24.2-IP, 28-K) and 2011 (K-Port – 11-ST, 3.86, 51.1-IP, 61-K), but then the wheels fell off in 2012, again for K-Port (11-G, 6-ST, 7.98, 38.1-IP, 50-K). The one good thing is the K/9 ratio remained high and he went to Brooklyn this season as a relief pitcher, which graduated to the back end of a piggyback and then starting. Again… 45.0-IP, 60-K. I don’t expect the Mets to rush Morris and my guess is he and I will be having lunch together come next April in Savannah.

 

LHRP David Wynn – 20-yrs. old – 20-games, 2.36, 1.31 – Here’s a reliever to remember. A 5-10 lefty out of some unheard of school (Mid American Christian University), Wynn was never drafted and was signed after the 2012 draft. His first assignment to Brooklyn was last season which resulted in an outstanding stat line: 21-games, 0-1, 1.44, 25.0-IP, 21-K. For whatever reason, he was brought back there agin this season and, though his ERA was up (20-G, 2.36), his K/9 ratio dramatically increased (26.2-IP/28-K). Wynn still needs to work on some control issues (15-BB), but I’m sure you’ll see him in Savannah next season.