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The Cyclones Have An Infield To Keep An Eye On

By Former Writers

June 18, 2013 1 Comment

cyclones opening day

Last night, the Brooklyn Cyclones opened up their season against the Staten Island Yankees, and were hard-luck losers in a 2-1 game. Tonight, however, the Cyclones will bring their energy back home to Brooklyn for their first home game of 2013. The Cyclones present a different appeal for fans like myself, in the Queens area, who are relatively far from any minor league games outside of these guys. When I call them the Junior Mets — it’s a term of complete endearment because I love knowing they’re just a train ride away.

Outside of my little endorsement for the Cyclones local status, however, there are other reasons to head down to MCU Park. One of the main ones, in my eyes, is their infield. The Cyclones will be running L.J. Mazzilli and Gavin Cecchini out there up the middle to be their double play combo — and both young men have something on their shoulders.

Mazzilli, the second baseman, is the son of former Mets star Lee Mazzilli and is aspiring to create his own legacy. Our 4th round pick in the ’13 draft represents a talented and toolsy young player who can turn out to be one of those offensive-minded second basemen. Don’t think for a second that he’s a butcher in the field, though, as he gets great jumps and flashes the leather with some nice plays on occasion. His power should play out well at his position — and I do expect him to stay at 2B — and he should produce at an above-average rate with a handful of steals.

Cecchini, on the other hand, comes with his own set of hype. He might not have a famous father, but he was drafted in the ’12 draft as the 12th pick — immediately placing some pressure on him. He was ranked #11 on our MMN Top Prospect list, and here’s an excerpt:

Cecchini flashed some of the skills that drew the Mets to him in the first place, but his bat remains a work in progress. He has a quick and compact line drive swing, but doesn’t generate much power. Defensively, he displayed some solid glove-work and range, but his arm was mostly average. He should be able to stick at shortstop and become an adequate defender.

The young shortstop looks to improve on his stock with a solid season in Brooklyn this year. If he continues to hit the ball to all fields, he should be fine playing half his games at MCU, considering he’s not much of a power hitter at all.

I would be remiss if I didn’t at least give a passing mention to Matthew Oberste, our 7th round pick in the ’13 MLB Draft, and perhaps one of the sleepers of our draft corps. Not only did he grow up a Mets fan and idolizing David Wright (points in my book, kid) but he projects out to be a solid first baseman in my eyes. He fell to the lower rounds because of questions about his swing and power potential — and the fact that he was limited to just first base. That being said, Oberste has an awesome bat and he tore it up in college. He moves well for his size and should handle first base well for Brooklyn.

Oberste, Mazzilli, and Cecchini are already making the 2013 Brooklyn Cyclones season exciting — and we haven’t even played our first game at home yet! Let’s go Cyclones! We’ll have a reporter at the game tonight to give you some first-hand notes on how the game goes.

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