Jaison Vilera/Photo by Ed Delany
The New York-Penn League (Short Season-A) announced their All-Star rosters for the upcoming showcase being played on August 14 at Medlar Field in State College, Pennsylvania, the home of the Williamsport Crosscutters.
Six Brooklyn Cyclones players were named to the South squad; second baseman Carlos Cortes, outfielders Wagner Lagrange and Ross Adolph, as well as hurlers Jaison Vilera, Billy Oxford, and Yeudy Colon.
Vilera, 21, signed with the Mets as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2013. After putting up a 1.88 earned-run average in eleven appearances for Rookie-Ball St. Lucie in 2017, he’s bested that effort with a 1.43 ERA through his first nine starts of the season for Brooklyn.
The right-hander has a 3.94 strikeouts-to-walks ratio, a 0.874 WHIP, and 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings.
Oxford, a 22-year-old right-handed reliever from Peoria, Arizona has excelled with the Cyclones this season, putting up a 1.80 ERA over thirty innings with nineteen strikeouts and ten walks.
He’s only allowed one home run this season and three total in 57.1 professional innings since being drafted out of Azusa Pacific University in the 27th round of the 2017 draft.
Colon, 23, has also shone in his first season with the Cyclones. Through 21.2 innings the Dominican native has a 1.25 ERA, 1.200 WHIP, and 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings.
His only bugaboo has been the 5.4 walks and hits per nine innings, respectively, that he’s allowed this season, Plenty of time to work on that, and this honor should do wonders for the young man’s confidence level.
Carlos Cortes, the 21-year-old second baseman from Orlando, Florida, is slashing .276/.345/.390 with two home runs and 13 runs batted in through his first 27 games (105 at-bats) with Short Season Brooklyn.
Cortes was drafted in the third round of this year’s MLB Draft, out of the University of South Carolina.
Lagrange, 22, is making the most out of his second stint with the Cyclones (2017; .308/.378/.436 in 45 at-bats), keeping up his high level of production through nearly four-times the at-bats this season (177).
The Dominican native is slashing .286/.367/.351 with eight doubles, 17 RBI, and just 27 strikeouts.
Ross Adolph, the 21-year-old Ohio native drafted by the Mets this year (12th round, University of Toledo) is hitting .271/.340/.450 with five doubles, seven triples, two homers, and 21 RBI in his first 159 professional at-bats.
All six of these players give the future of the New York Mets a rosier hue. Best of luck, fellas.