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The Brooklyn Cyclones Preview |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 26 June 2007 |
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Brooklyn summers have many guarantees; sunshine, high temperatures and Cyclones baseball.
Brooklyn summers have many guarantees; sunshine, high temperatures and Cyclones baseball. The 2007 season may prove to be one of the best ones yet as former manager Edgar Alfonzo comes back to man the helm in Brooklyn once again.
Alfonzo was the team’s first skipper in 2001 and lead the ‘Clones to their first McNamara Division title and to their first New York Penn League Championship.
“I stress a lot of fundamentals like bunt plays to move a guy over to second and basically playing small baseball,” the Cyclones managers said. “That is how you win games at any level.”
Along with Fonzie Brooklyn has an abundance of talent. The Cyclones have 11 players that were selected in this year’s draft along with a handful of returnees like left handed pitchers Grady Hinchman and Josh Appell, infielder Jake Eigsti and catcher Jason Jacobs.
Another familiar face on the team is Ender Chavez, brother of Mets outfielder Endy Chavez. Chavez was with the team in 2002 and 2003 but was taken by the then Montreal Expos in the Rule 5 minor league draft. He played with the club up until 2006 before rejoining the Mets organization.
“There are no real standouts at this point but everyone played well in extended spring training and we’ll see what happens when we start playing,” Alfonzo said.
There may not be any standouts in Fonzie’s eyes but during the preseason workout it was easy to spot the boys who have the ability to make things happen.
During batting practice 11th round pick Matt Bouchard from Georgetown University seemed to have a lot of pop along with 15th round pick Jefferies Tatford from University of Louisiana-Lafayette and Zach Lutz the Mets 5th round pick from Alvernia College in Pennsylvania.
“I don’t try to take balls deep when I’m at bat I try to find the gaps and hit line drives to get on base,” said Lutz when asked about his offensive strategy. “I give it all I’ve got everyday.”
With a manager like Alfonzo and players like Lutz, this 2007 season could prove to be an exciting one.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 29 June 2007 )
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