Brooklyn Cyclones 2025 Recap: Interview with Cyclones Announcer Justin Rocke

  

Justin Rocke and Johnny Gadamowitz, Brooklyn Cyclones Broadcasters 

The Mets not only have one of the best farm systems in Baseball, they have some of the best minor league announcers.  The Minor League Games on the MiLB Website or App are filled with player information you can't get anywhere else.

On Sunday September 14th, before the Brooklyn Cyclones played Game 1 of the South Atlantic League Championship Series against the Hub City Spartanburgers, I had the privilege of talking to Cyclones Broadcaster Justin Rocke about the 2025 Brooklyn season and some of the promising prospects that he saw.  

John From Albany: Justin, with just a few games left, what are your impression of this year's Brooklyn Team?

Justin Rocke: The biggest thing about this group has been their resiliency throughout the course of the year. I mean, there have been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of roster changing, particularly between the first half. This team that's in the playoffs, you look at the lineup for Game One of this Championship series, and only one, two, three guys in the starting nine were really part of that roster, and Diego Mosquera missed the last month of the first half because of an injury. They have found a way to get things done even when the cards have been stacked against them. They've played with good energy, they've always found a way to bounce back.

One of the more impressive things about this group is this might be the best team I've worked with in my years of minor league baseball in terms of their ability to put what happened the day before behind them and start fresh the next day. They've been very good at just being able to leave what happened in the past in the past and push on to the next thing, which I think is not only just important as a pro athlete, but especially being a pro athlete in New York.

JFA: How big a factor do you think Gilbert Gomez has been in that? 

Justin Rocke: Tremendous. He's won championships in Florida, he's won championships in the Dominican. The coaching staff has done a phenomenal job all year long.

The players really take after Gomez well. Bryan Muniz has done a great job as the hitting coach. Jordan Kraus has done a phenomenal job with the pitching staff this year.

The coaching staff has done a great job of keeping guys focused, but also having a little levity and fun.

JFA: We've seen a lot of good pitchers come up to the major leagues from the Mets minors recently. Is there anybody that you were impressed with, pitching-wise, that you thought could be the next guy that we could see in Flushing? 

Justin Rocke: I mean, it's been really impressive what they've done over the last couple of years with the pitching lab down there. The amount of guys they've churned out, I mean, ERA-wise, I think our pitching staff is top ten in minor league baseball for the entire season.

But, you know, they're seeing a lot of guys move on up from here this season. I mean, I'm shocked that Brendan Girton hasn't become a top 30 prospect in the organization yet with the season he's had. 

Bursting onto the scene, Will Watson was phenomenal for us coming up at the tail end of the first half. I mean, his third high-A start was the clinching game of the first half. Was able to, you know, didn't have his best stuff, but was able to battle through it and give, you know, four-plus innings of shutout ball and help, you know, set the tone for what was to come the rest of the night. 

Obviously, Jonathan Santucci got off to a slow start this season, but got out of the bases loaded jam about mid-May, early in the game against Winston-Salem, and from that point forward he just sort of took off and has obviously finished the season incredibly strong up in Binghamton.

R.J. Gordon's had a tremendous breakout season. I don't know what people were expecting from him, but he's had an incredible campaign. Zach Thornton, before he got hurt, was obviously the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month for April and was absolutely phenomenal.

Noah Hall's had a great bounce-back season from injury. 

I'd be interested to see what happens going into next year with Joel Diaz. You know, this is really his first full year back off of Tommy John surgery, first full year of health. You know, second season back and second year back from a major surgery like that is usually the year that things start to normalize and return back to where things were pre-injury. 

Click Here for more of the Interview.

John From Albany: Interview with Cyclones Announcer Justin Rocke

 

Justin Rocke, Brooklyn Cyclones 

The Mets Minor League Broadcasters feature guys that know Mets prospects better than anyone.  They are also great to talk baseball with.

During the last week of the Brooklyn 2024 Season, I had the privilege to sit down with Cyclones announcer Justin Rocke.  We talked about Brooklyn's Season, Mets Prospects and recent Minor League trends.  

John From Albany:  How do you think the 2024 season's gone for Brooklyn? 

Justin Rocke: It's been a pretty successful season. It's been a lot of ups and downs...various different reasons with injuries, a little bit different this season as well with new front office and philosophies in terms of promoting guys. We've had a lot of guys move up this year. Not that we didn't have guys move up last year, but I think, after Jonah [Tong] went up the other day, I think we're now at 17 guys that have been promoted from here to Binghamton throughout the course of the year, April 27th until Sunday [September 1st]. I think [Brooklyn Cyclones Manager] Gilbert's and the coaching staff's done a great job of keeping guys involved, enthused and engaged throughout the course of the season...They've done a good job of finishing the season strong, a lot of guys are playing some of their best ball of the season over the last couple of weeks.

The story continues to be the pitching in the organization, top to bottom. Last night was the 13th shutout of the season for us, which continues to add to the franchise record, which is mighty impressive. The last couple of years, pitching-wise, and the organization has been really, really impressive.

John From Albany: You talk about the big changes from this year to last year. Besides the promotions and the way they tried to be more aggressive with that, what else do you see was a big difference this year? 

Justin Rocke: I think, honestly, the biggest difference was that they were a little bit more aggressive promoting guys up and down through the minor league system, particularly promoting guys from here up to double-A and beyond. I mean, you know, Sproat's already up in Triple-A, sort of like Scott started here last year and finished up in Triple-A by the end of the season.

I haven't see much change organizational philosophy-wise outside of maybe the fact that they have been more inclined to let guys go past their innings limits than they had in years past. It was obviously top-down line as recently as last week, you know, or is Jonah [Tong] even going to throw this week, because he's already shut down. And obviously, it's not the case, because he's now pitching in Binghamton with an extra week in their season.

I think they've done a good job of monitoring that stuff, while also allowing guys to push themselves a little bit more, which, quite frankly, I think to a certain degree, you need to do in order for guys to go deeper in ball games, last longer into the season and stuff like that. 

JFA: Who would you say are the biggest stars in the team that, if you say tell me about the 2024 Brooklyn Cyclones, who are the first players that would come to mind? 

Justin Rocke: I think it's sort of told in a tale of two parts. First half of the season, and really the first two months was Brandon Sproat, Ryan Clifford and Nolan McLean, and what they were doing here. Since the middle of May, early June, and beyond, it's been Nick Morabito and Jonah Tong and the success stories of what the Mets Player Development have been able to do with those two guys throughout the course of the year. Went from being top 100 prospect guys that are potentially going to knock down the doors to the big leagues, to guys that were maybe not as well known going into the season that have established themselves as real players in the organization.

I'd be stunned if Morabito is not the player of the year in the organization. [Editor's Note: Outfielder Nick Morabito was named the organization's Player of the Year on September 20, 2024.]

JFA: And who, and who should be the Pitcher? Sproat or Tong?

Justin Rocke: That's going to be a toss-up. Numbers-wise, you probably have to go Tong, but what Sproat's been able to do,  Sproat's unequivocally the better pitcher.

JFA: So, outside of the big names that everybody knows about, who would you say is the next player that you would want to mention as somebody that people should really be aware of? 

Justin Rocke:I mean, obviously, [Boston] Baro and [Ronald] Hernandez are dudes, but they haven't been here for very long. You know, I think a guy that's going to be very interesting to follow, especially the start of next year, because he'll probably be back here to start the year, is Chris Suero. Just a stupid good athlete, you know, had a really tough chunk of his time here, but has found a way to stay with it, and has, heated back up again over the last couple of weeks to finish out the year, which is very impressive. 

JFA: Where do you see him in the future, his everyday position? You think he'll be a catcher, first base, outfielder? 

Justin Rocke:I can honestly see him being more like, you know, a little bit of a Daulton Varsow type, a guy that can play infield and outfield, but does a lion's share of his play behind the plate. He's a ridiculously good defender at first base, for a guy that doesn't take a lot of ground balls there...and same thing sort of applies for him in left field. He's done a nice job in those spots. 

JFA: That's right, I've seen him make some really nice plays on, just on TV, in left field. So, I'm just curious about the catching aspects, because that's a key thing. If you can catch...

Justin Rocke: Let's put it this way, he's, you know, between him and [recently released Brooklyn Catcher Chris] Pregent, he's absolutely a better defender. I think Pregent's better at managing a pitching staff, but Pregent can't throw. Suero's the only guy on the team that's thrown out base runners. 

JFA: And, well, I guess we'll see how [C Ronald] Hernandez...

Justin Rocke: Hernandez has been better.  He hasn't thrown anyone out, but he's, you know, the play he made on Sunday night was...absurd. 

JFA: Are you talking about the throw from Omar [De Los Santos]? Yeah, that was great. [You can see the play and Game Recap by clicking here.]

Justin Rocke: That was amazing. And then he dove to third base. To get the guy at third, yeah, it was insane.

JFA: Who is the, out of the different players here, who would you say is the biggest clubhouse leader? I asked Keith Raad that question when he was here a few years ago...he said then it was Francisco Alvarez...and you can see it now in the major leagues, how he handles the pitching staff.

Justin Rocke: No, that's very true. I don't know if there's necessarily one guy that sort of, you know, rallies the troops... You know, honestly, who I thought that was in terms of just like a guy that hyped people up before he got traded was Wilfredo Lara. Before Suero had the walk-off hit and the crazy comeback against Jersey Shore, Lara stood there before he walked to first base [after an intentional walk] and literally just stood there to fire Suero up before he stepped into the box. [You can read more about this game by clicking here.]

But I don't know if there really is one static guy that's a clubhouse leader.  I think there's a lot of guys that get along well with one another. There's a lot of cohesion in the clubhouse, but I don't know, I mean, Johnny [Brooklyn Cyclones co-Announcer Johnny Gadamowitz], you can correct me if I'm wrong...I don't know if there's anyone that's really, you know, your prototypical leader. There were guys that earlier in the season that people gravitated to in terms of advice...the Stanley Consuegras, the Mateo Gils of the world, guys that had been around...especially when there was a portion of the season where we had a big chunk of older players and younger players. I think it's more of guys leading by example and doing things the right way. I do think there are some similarities in terms of just demeanor and stuff like that between Morabito and Jett to a certain degree. I haven't seen like your rah-rah leader guy that's going to start a players-only meeting and stuff like that. 

Click here for the rest of the Interview.

Mets Announce 2024 Coaching Staff for Brooklyn (A)

The following press release was issued yesterday by the press office of the Binghamton Rumble Ponies:

Brooklyn Cyclones Announce 2024 Coaching Staff

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – February 2, 2024 – In conjunction with the New York Mets, the Brooklyn Cyclones announced their 2024 coaching staff on Tuesday. Gilbert Gómez, who most recently won the 2024 Dominican Winter League championship as manager of Los Tigres del Licey, will be the 15th manager in franchise history when the season opens on Friday, April 5th.

The 2024 season will mark Gómez’s seventh in the Mets organization after serving as skipper of the Single-A St. Lucie Mets last summer. The resident of Santo Domingo, D.R. was originally an outfielder in the Mets’ minor league system between 2009 and 2015, reaching as high as Double-A Binghamton. Gómez has also served as the hitting and third base coach for the 2022 bronze-medal winning Dominican Republic national team in the Tokyo Olympics. The 31-year-old comes from a big baseball family. His brother, Dariel, played in the Mets’ farm system in 2023, his brother, José, is a professional scout for the Tampa Bay Rays and general manager of LIDOM’s Leones del Escogido, and his brother, Hector, is one of the top sports journalists in the Dominican Republic.

Joining Gómez on the bench will be returning bench coach John Vaughn in addition to Dan McKinney (pitching coach), Eduardo Núñez (hitting coach), and Regan Saulnier (development coach).

Vaughn enters his fourth season with the Mets’ organization and his second-straight on Coney Island. Last year, the 36-year-old helped guide Brooklyn to a 66-65 record, including a 38-28 mark in the second half. Vaughn spent the 2021 and 2022 campaigns at Double-A Binghamton as a Player Development Associate and Minor League Analytics Associate, respectively. He graduated from Anna Maria College in 2010, where he was the two-time captain of the baseball team. With his playing career behind him, Vaughn was the home clubhouse manager for the New Britain Rock Cats from 2010 to 2013 and later served in a Baseball Data & Video Operations role with St. John’s University’s baseball team while working towards his master’s degree in Sports Management from 2019 to 2020.

McKinney joins Brooklyn as pitching coach for his second season in the New York Mets’ farm system. The 29-year-old spent his first year in the organization as the pitching coach with Single-A St. Lucie. Previously, McKinney served as pitching coach at Southeast Missouri State University in 2022, helping lead the team to an Ohio Valley Conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bowling Green, Ohio, native has also made stops at Oakland University, Akron University, and Kirkwood Community College after attending the University of Michigan on a baseball scholarship.

 

Núñez, in his fifth year in the organization, will serve as hitting coach for the Cyclones after spending the 2023 campaign in the same role with Single-A St. Lucie. Núñez has also spent time as the hitting coach for the Florida Complex League (2022) and Dominican Summer League Mets2 (2021) after joining the system as a video intern in 2020. The 38-year-old served as video coordinator and an analytics assistant for Team Puerto Rico during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. During the winter, Núñez serves as third base and infield coach for the Gigantes de Carolina in the Puerto Rican Winter League. The Puerto Rico native spent four years in the minor leagues with the Montreal, Washington, and Kansas City organizations after being selected in the 18th round of the 2003 MLB Draft by the Expos.

Saulnier enters her second year in the Mets’ farm system and her first on Coney Island. The Union, S.C. resident spent last season in the same role with Single-A St. Lucie. Saulnier started her professional baseball career as a minor league video and technology intern with the Minnesota Twins (2019-20) and Cincinnati Reds (2021) before serving as a game planning strategist for the Los Angeles Angels in 2022. She graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2019 with a degree in Sport and Entertainment Management. Regan will be the first female to serve as a full-time coach with the Cyclones in the history of the franchise.   

Rounding out the Cyclones’ staff will be head trainer Joe Parrillo, baseball analytics associate Max Blane, player development associate Chloe Walker, athletic training associate Skylar Nicholson, and strength coach Drew Skrocki, who enters his third season on Coney Island. 

PRESS RELEASE: BROOKLYN CYCLONES ANNOUNCE 2022 COACHING STAFF

Former Cyclones All-Star Set to Guide Club 

BROOKLYN, NY – January 6, 2022 – The Brooklyn Cyclones will begin the 2022 season, their second as the High-A Affiliate of the New York Mets, with a new manager.   Luis Rivera will make his debut as Cyclones manager when they kick off the season on Friday, April 8th in Wilmington (DE) against the Blue Rocks.   The 37-year-old is no stranger to Brooklyn, as Rivera was named a New York-Penn League All-Star as a member of the Cyclones during the 2009 season.   The San Juan, Puerto Rico native will become the first former Cyclones player to manage the club. 

Rivera spent the 2021 season as the bench coach for Syracuse (AAA) and last served as a manager from 2015-2017, when he guided the Kingsport Mets (R) of the now defunct Appalachian League.   Rivera has also served as a hitting coach with Binghamton (AA) and Columbia (A) during his time with the Mets organization, which began in 2010. 

Joining Rivera on the Brooklyn coaching staff will be Richie Benes (Hitting Coach), AJ Sager (Pitching Coach), Chris Newell (Bench Coach), Austin Dayton (Athletic Trainer) and Drew Skrocki (Performance Coach). 

Benes, 43, is a native of the Bronx and served as a coach with the Cyclones throughout the playoffs during their Championship season in 2019.   He enters his fourth year in the organization and previously served as a coach in the Mets Dominican Academy as well as with the Complex League in 2021.   Prior to joining the Mets organization, he was the hitting and infield coach at St. Peter's University in Jersey City, NJ.   Benes was selected in the 23rd round of the 1996 First Year Player Draft out of Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx and played two years of affiliated ball with the Kansas City Royals.   

Sager begins his first season with the Mets organization after serving as the Minor League Pitching Coordinator with the Detroit Tigers for the previous eight seasons.   The 56-year-old spent 20 seasons with the Detroit Tigers organization, including six seasons as the pitching coach with Toledo (AAA).   He pitched professionally for 12 seasons from 1988-1999, logging time in the San Diego, Colorado, Detroit and Cincinnati organizations.   In 123 lifetime Major League appearances with the Padres (1994), Rockies (1995) and Tigers (1996-98), Sager posted a 12-15 record, with five career saves and a 5.36 ERA.   He also served as a color analyst for the University of Toledo football network for eight seasons (2000-07). 

Chris Newell enters his third season with the Mets organization after serving as a manager with the Complex League Mets in 2021 and being tabbed as the Kingsport Mets (R) manager in 2020 prior to the cancellation of the Minor League season.  Before joining the Mets organization, he served as manager of the Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers in the United Shore Professional League from 2016-19.   He also worked as a scout for the Tampa Bay Rays (1999-2005) and the New York Yankees (2006-2016). 

Rounding out the staff will be Austin Dayton (Athletic Trainer) and Drew Skrocki (Performance Coach). 

Full and partial season tickets, as well as group and premium tickets for the 2022 Cyclones season are available now. You can reach the box office by calling or texting 718 – 37 – BKLYN. Single game tickets will be made available in the weeks ahead. 

Box Score: Brooklyn Cyclones 5 Jersey Shore Blue Claws 2 - 9/14/2021

 

The Brooklyn Cyclones are home to take on the Jersey Shore Blue Claws.  It's game 1 of the 6 game series. 

For the complete Mets Minor League statistics click here.

Box Score: Hudson Valley Renegades 4 Brooklyn Cyclones 1 - 9/10/2021

 

The Brooklyn Cyclones are on the road to take on the Hudson Valley Renegades.  It's game 4 of the 6 game series. 

For the complete Mets Minor League statistics click here.

Box Score: Brooklyn Cyclones 6 Hudson Valley Renegades 4 - 9/9/2021

 

The Brooklyn Cyclones are on the road to take on the Hudson Valley Renegades.  It's game 3 of the 6 game series. 

For the complete Mets Minor League statistics click here.

Box Score: Game 1 - Brooklyn Cyclones 4 Hudson Valley Renegades 0 - 9/8/2021

 

The Brooklyn Cyclones are on the road to take on the Hudson Valley Renegades.  It's game 1 of a double header - game 2 of the 7 game series. 

Tonight’s Game 1 Lineup: Antoine Duplantis CF; Jaylen Palmer RF; Ronny Mauricio SS; Francisco Alvarez C;  Jose Peroza 3B; Luke Ritter 2B; Zach Ashford LF; Luis Gonzalez DH; Cody Bohanek 1B; J.T. Ginn P;

We had ALOT of roster moves yesterday:

Going to Binghamton (all pitchers):
Bryce Montes de Oca
Brian Metoyer
Luc Rennie
Alec Kisena
Josh Hejka
Willy Taveras

Coming to Brooklyn (all pitchers):
Oscar Rojas
Reyson Santos
Nolan Clenney
Dylan Hall
Garrison Bryant

— Brooklyn Cyclones (@BKCyclones) September 8, 2021

For the complete Mets Minor League statistics click here.

Box Score: Hudson Valley Renegades 7 Brooklyn Cyclones 6 - 9/7/2021

 

The Brooklyn Cyclones are on the road to take on the Hudson Valley Renegades.  It's game 1 of the 6 game series. 

Tonight’s Lineup: Antoine Duplantis CF; Jaylen Palmer RF; Ronny Mauricio SS; Francisco Alvarez C;  Jose Peroza 3B; Luke Ritter 1B; Zach Ashford LF; Luis Gonzalez 2B; David Griffin P;

For the complete Mets Minor League statistics click here.

Box Score: Brooklyn Cyclones 6 Wilmington Blue Rocks 1 - 9/5/2021

 

The Brooklyn Cyclones are home to take on the Wilmington Blue Rocks.  It's the final game of the 6 game series. 

Today’s Lineup: Tonight’s Lineup: Antoine Duplantis LF; Jaylen Palmer CF; Ronny Mauricio SS; Francisco Alvarez DH;  Luke Ritter 1B; Luis Gonzalez 2B; Oscar Campos C; Tanner Murphy RF; Cody Bohanek 3B;  Jose Chacin P;

For the complete Mets Minor League statistics click here.

Box Score: Wilmington Blue Rocks 4 Brooklyn Cyclones 0 - 9/4/2021

 

The Brooklyn Cyclones are home to take on the Wilmington Blue Rocks.  It's game 5 of the 6 game series. 

For the complete Mets Minor League statistics click here.

Box Score: Brooklyn Cyclones 10 Wilmington Blue Rocks 1 - 9/3/2021

 

The Brooklyn Cyclones are home to take on the Wilmington Blue Rocks.  It's game 4 of the 6 game series. 

Antoine Duplantis CF; Jaylen Palmer RF; Ronny Mauricio SS; Francisco Alvarez DH;  Jose Peroza 3B; Luke Ritter 1B; Nic Gaddis C; Luis Gonzalez 2B; Cody Bohanek LF;  Alec Kisena P;

For the complete Mets Minor League statistics click here.

Box Score: Wilmington Blue Rocks 6 Brooklyn Cyclones 0 - 9/2/2021

 

The Brooklyn Cyclones are home to take on the Wilmington Blue Rocks.  It's game 2 of the 5 game series. 

Tonight’s Lineup: Antoine Duplantis CF; Jaylen Palmer RF; Ronny Mauricio SS; Francisco Alvarez C;  Jose Peroza 3B; Luis Gonzalez 2B; Zach Ashford LF; Nic Gaddis DH; Cody Bohanek 1B; J.T. Ginn P;

For the complete Mets Minor League statistics click here.

Analyzing the Cyclones Pitching Staff

The Cyclones had strong performances this year from four starters, Mark Cohoon, Jim Fuller, Collin McHugh and Brandon Moore. None of these players are considered high-level prospects at this point, but they can each build off of a solid showing in Coney Island in 2009. The Cyclones' fifth starter, Darin Gorski, a seventh-round pick of the Mets in 2009, had a disappointing season.

Here is my analysis of the Cyclones' top four starters:

Mark Cohoon: 14 GS 92 IP 2.15 ERA 69 H 20 BB 70 K BAA .210

The Good: Cohoon was terrific through his 14 starts in the NYPL. He gave up less than a base runner per inning (.967 WHIP), and normally pitched deep into games (he averaged 6.571 innings per start) for the Cyclones this season. The Texas-native proved to be a workhorse all season, setting the franchise record for innings pitched. Cohoon had a relatively low K/9 total, with 6.8 but he pitched to contact effectively, which allowed him to pitch deep into games. With an impressive GB% of 60.4%, Cohoon may be the most best-equipped Cyclone starter to find success as he ascends through the organization and leaves a very pitcher-friendly league. Cohoon is one of the few Brooklyn pitchers that has age on his side. He was slightly over the age average in the NYPL this year but nothing dramatic. Cohoon, who just turned 22 in mid-September, has plenty of time to move through the system.

The Bad: There was not much to complain about with Cohoon’s 2009 campaign; the Mets just have to wait and see if he can build off of his strong season at the next level. One potential problem with Cohoon is projectability. He is a guy that is very polished, and was too advanced for NYPL hitters, but it is unclear if he will have the stuff to be successful in higher leagues. If Cohoon will eventually hit a wall at some point it may be because he doesn’t strike out many hitters. It only gets harder to strike out hitters as you go up through the minor league system, so the 6.8 K/9 total is somewhat concerning, for a short-season team.

The Future: Expect Cohoon to spend next year in Savannah’s rotation. Due to his age and ability to induce groundballs, Cohoon can develop into a prospect with a solid showing in the Sally. But if he doesn’t make it, he would not be the first pitcher to dominate the NYPL for the Mets, only to hit a wall soon after. Will he become a solid arm with the chance of making the big leagues (like Tobi Stoner) or will he become just another organizational arm (like Dylan Owen)?

Jim Fuller: 12 (11 GS) 63 IP 2.86 ERA 58 H 15 BB 67 K

The Good: Fuller had a very impressive strikeout rate (K/9) of 9.6. Although he is of small stature, Fuller's fastball has surprising pop, and was used successfully as an out pitch in the NYPL for the lefty. It was not rare to see Fuller go upstairs and beat a hitter with a high fastball, which is something you would not expect when you first see the lefthander's, who is listed at just 5'10. Lefties hit only .203 off of him in Coney Island, so he may have a future in the bullpen if the Mets decide to return him to a relief role. In 2008, he pitched in 18 innings, as mostly a reliever for the Cyclones, allowing only two runs total. His K/9 rate was 11.0. He was victimized by bad luck in 2009. Cyclones' bats tended to be quiet when he took the mound, so he only ended up winning three games, even though his ERA was 2.86. Also, batters had a high BABIP against him (.344) which may partially be contributed to some bad luck, especially after looking at how few line drives he gave up (9.9%).

The Bad: Fuller was only fourth on the Cyclones' staff in ERA. He also did not pitch very deeply into games. He averaged 5.575 IP per start, which ranked third on the Brooklyn staff, behind workhorses Cohoon and Brandon Moore. His H/9 mark was high at 8.3, but as stated above, that may have had to do with bad luck, although the BABIP against him in his 18 innings of work in 2008 was also high at .366, which is still a small sample, but may indicate a trend, rather than bad luck against Fuller.

The Future: For now, it is unclear what his immediate future is. Will he be a starter or reliever next season? Down the road he will most likely be converted back to a relief position. He strikes out a lot of hitters, and his fastball has the potential to be a major league pitch. While the rest of the Brooklyn staff may eventually flame out, Fuller probably has the highest "floor" as a guy who has the best chance to make it in a major league bullpen as a LOOGY.

Collin McHugh: 14 GS 2.76 ERA 61 H 22 BB 79 K

The Good: McHugh led Brooklyn in strikeouts, despite pitching seven fewer innings than Brandon Moore and 17 fewer innings than Cohoon. His 79 strikeouts were fourth-best in the New York-Penn League. The righty's 9.5 K/9 ratio is the second-best out o the starters. McHugh faired especially well against righties, allowing just a .166 BAA against them. He had a very strong end to his season: over his last five starts, McHugh pitched 28 innings, giving up only 16 hits and three runs. That span was highlighted by a seven inning outing on August 3, when he gave up just three hits and a walk to Jamestown and struck out 12.

The Bad: McHugh surrendered the highest BB/9 ratio of the four, giving up 2.5 walks per nine inning, although that is not a terrible number, it probably contributed to his relatively short starts—he averaged 5.384 innings per start, the worst average of the four. (However, that number includes his last regular season start which was a short two-inning outing in preparation of the playoffs.) He also hit five batters, a team high. The righty gives up a lot of fly balls (40.1%), which will catch up with him. He allowed just one home run this year, while giving up 16 doubles. Expect some of those doubles to turn into home runs in the future.

The Future: Expect McHugh to end up in Savannah with most of his rotation mates from this season, because St. Lucie’s rotation will most likely be occupied by the current group of Sand Gnats (Familia, Carson, Allen and Beaulac). He is about the same age as Fuller (turned 22 in mid-June) which makes him old for the Sally, so his third year in the system will be critical for him. He did have a couple of very impressive outings this season, and he is more of a strikeout guy than Moore and Cohoon, so that he will have an edge in that aspect next season. He will be a good under-the-radar guy to lookout for next season, as he was overshadowed by the other members of the Brooklyn rotation in 2009.

Brandon Moore: 13 GS 2.09 ERA 82 IP 61 H 17 BB 71 K

The Good: Well, Moore was as good as anybody in Brooklyn for most of the season in 2009. Cohoon edged him out for the Sterling Award, but his 2.09 ERA was the best on the team, barely besting his lefty teammate, who posted a 2.15 ERA. Moore carved himself a place in Cyclones history by pitching the team’s first ever no-hitter. That performance was one of two complete game shutouts on the season for Moore, although both were shortened seven-inning double header games. The 6-foot-3 righty was a workhorse for Brooklyn, consistently pitching late into games. He averaged 6.307 innings per start.

The Bad: Cyclone ringer? Moore will turn 24 in January—he was way above the league average in the NYPL. His age really kills his chance to develop into a prospect.

The Future: Moore can only pitch where the Mets assign him to do so, and he has done a good job through the first two seasons in the system, but his age is hard to overcome. He may develop into a secondary prospect down the line, but his ceiling is the lowest of the four starters. But if he continues to get hitters out, he will climb through the minors. It’s not unheard of to see a 26-year-old or 27-year-old rookie in the big leagues, so you can’t count anybody out who dominates like he did. But there have been plenty of Cyclones in the past who dominate the NYPL, only to struggle badly a year or two after. Moore would fit the mold as one of these guys.

Conclusion: Brooklyn’s roster lacked the highly-touted names that they had in 2008, but the Cyclones’ staff was excellent this year. Clearly, none of these guys have the ceiling of Jenrry Mejia or Brad Holt, but they have a chance to become decent prospects, especially Cohoon, McHugh and Fuller. Expect most of these guys to appear in Savannah next year, although on them may make the jump straight to St. Lucie if there is room there and the Mets think one of these guys can handle the challenge. It is typical of the Mets to put polished pitchers in Brooklyn, where the hitters are overmatched. Only time will tell if some of these guys are real good pitchers, or if they were just too advanced for the NYPL. Can’t fault these guys for pitching in Brooklyn., they did all they could in the level they were placed. Now, in 2010, we will begin to sort out the real prospects from the imposters.