The very young Gavin Cecchini runs into a lot of criticism from fans because of the fact that he was drafted so high for the New York Mets — and perhaps rightfully so. It is unfortunate, however, that one so young faces such pressure to perform — although this could be said about a lot of our young prospects that we drafted out of high school.

Cecchini had been struggling with an ankle injury that forced him to miss some time earlier this year, so he hasn’t played as much as he would have hoped to. He’s also a known gym rat and a player with a great work ethic, so you can imagine that the injury must have driven him nuts. Cecchini missed almost the entirety of July with the ankle sprain and returned to game action on July 27th.

Last night, Cecch went 4-for-5 with a double and run scored — giving him not only his first extra-base hit since returning from the DL, but his first multi-hit game as well. In fact, Gavin’s four hits last night matched his offensive production in the previous seven games since returning to the field for Brooklyn.

We can only hope this is the start of a trend for Cecchini, who has the tools to become a solid big league shortshop someday.