Brooklyn Cyclones: 2017 Season In Review

Taking a closer look at how the Cyclones finished the season with the worst record in the NYPL at 24-52

What’s in this post:

- Season Summary

- Astro’s Awards

- Coaches

- Team Stats

- Cyclones on the NYPL Leaderboards

- Promotions

- Injuries

- Links to Astromets GIF Recaps (20)

What Happened

The Brooklyn Cyclones franchise played their first season in the New York Penn League (NYPL) way back in 2001 and didn’t have a losing season until 2015. Unfortunately for Cyclones fans, 2017 marked a third straight losing season for Brooklyn, and it was the franchises worst season yet. The Cyclones were so bad in 2017 that they finished 6.5 games behind the next worst teams in the league (the Auburn Doubledays and Batavia Muckdogs both finished at 30-45), and as the only team with a sub-.400 winning percentage.

It’s not just that the Cyclones record was bad either, the team was bad at almost everything: they finished in the bottom half of all the major counting stats for offense except stolen bases (see Table 1 below), and they finished bottom third in all the major counting stats for pitching except batter’s faced and strikeouts (Table 2). At their worst, the Cyclones went through a 4-27 stretch between July 22^nd and August 25^th, which included a franchise record 14-game losing streak. Surprisingly, Brooklyn pulled off a 9-1 stretch after that losing streak, but then dropped four straight to end the season. Unlike the previous “Affiliate Season in Review’s” I’ve done so far, I think it’s pretty clear what went wrong for Brooklyn, but we can still take a closer look at this squad.

As mentioned, the Cyclones did little right offensively, which is why they finished last in runs/game. They didn’t get on base at a good clip, and they didn’t hit for much power, but they did have one weapon at their disposal: stolen bases. The top of the Cyclones lineup featured two of the top-3 stolen base threats in the NYPL last year – Walter Rasquin (who led the league with 32 steals in 40 attempts) and Jose Miguel Medina (25 steals in 31 attempts) – plus Quinn Brodey was good in 10 of his 13 attempts with Brooklyn. Of course, unless you can steal home, you still need someone to knock you in, and the Cyclones didn’t get much from the guys hitting behind those three.

Of the 12 players with at least 100 PA for Brooklyn last year, 6 finished with a wRC+ of at least 100, Quinn Brodey barely missed that cut at 95 wRC+, and the last 5 finished between 42 and 86 wRC+. Walter Rasquin was easily the Cyclones best offensive player last year, as he led the team with a 123 wRC+ and also led the NYPL with 21 doubles.

Reed Gamache and Leon Byrd both finished at or above league average wRC+, but both were old for the league and have since been released by the Mets organization. Catcher Scott Manea used an advanced eye at the plate to post a 12.7 K%: 12.7 BB% and a 114 wRC+. Manea will have to show a little more pop in his bat moving forward, as he finished 2017 with a .054 ISO and .255 BABIP. First baseman Jeremy Vasquez was promoted from Kingsport midseason after an APPY League homerun barrage and had a streaky half-season with Brooklyn: Vasquez posted a .923 OPS through his first 13 games, but then finished the season in a 6-56 rut, which lowered his wRC+ to 104. Outfielder Jose Medina (101 wRC+) spent the full NYPL season with Brooklyn despite spending much of the first half playing for Columbia or St. Lucie. Medina got off to a great start with Brooklyn, posting a .740 OPS with 8 XBH and 17 stolen bases over his first 31 games before slumping through most of August (.508 OPS over his next 20). He’d bounce back from that with a 10-game hit streak, but unfortunately ended his season with the bad taste of 6 strikeouts in 8 at-bats.

Mets 3^rd round pick Quinn Brodey didn’t exactly stand out in his time with Brooklyn, but he showed improvement as the season wore on, and the Mets saw enough from him to bump him to Columbia briefly before the season ended. Small sample size alert, but the lefty swinging outfielder from Stanford was better against lefties in his first pro season, and he was also more successful against younger pitchers.

The Cyclones finished with just 17 homers in 2017, and 5 of those unexpectedly came from catcher Jose Maria. Maria gave the Cyclones lineup an injection of power with 4 doubles and 3 homers over 58 PA in August, which helped him finish with an 86 wRC+ and team-best .152 ISO. As for the other regulars, Franklin Correa (73 wRC+) and Dylan Snypes (69 wRC+) gave the Cyclones some solid infield defense (mostly up the middle), but neither provided much at the plate. Catcher Carlos Sanchez couldn’t come close to replicating his 2016 success in the GCL, finishing with a 47 wRC+. Finally, third baseman Carl Stajduhar missed some time in July after taking a pitch to the helmet and was a disaster at the plate after returning. There appeared to be some pop in his bat, but he’ll have to make a lot more contact to become an interesting prospect (he posted a 39.8 K%).

Of the other potentially interesting guys to play for Brooklyn in 2017, Wagner Lagrange led the way with a 142 wRC+ over 45 PA. Mets 5^th round pick Matt Winaker posted a 121 wRC+ before an injury finished his season prematurely. Injuries also disrupted Edgardo Fermin’s time in Brooklyn, but the young middle infielder has already garnered some attention and won’t be 20 until May. Lastly, Guillermo Granadillo finished the season with Brooklyn after a strong stateside debut in the GCL, and he showed very good speed in his brief stint.

Brooklyn’s offense struggled in 2017, there’s no doubt about that, but the pitching staff was a mess. That’s not meant as a knock against all the pitchers on the staff, as there were some strong individual performances, and some individual’s put together good stretches. That said, this staff struggled to find 5 IP from one pitcher nearly every night, and when they did those appearances often came with a hiccup or two. It’s awkward to break the starters vs. relievers numbers down for Brooklyn because there were so many starts scheduled for less than 5 IP: Matt Harvey made 2, Noah Syndergaard made 1, top pick David Peterson made 3, Mike Gibbons made 3, Colin Holderman made 2, and Chris Viall was on a tight pitch limit for most of his appearances. But, if you include all those intentional short outings, the starters averaged just over 4 IP/game, which meant Brooklyn’s bullpen was actually left on the hook for more innings last year.

Few pitchers were strictly starters for Brooklyn last year, but several pitchers were strictly relievers, and the following group was actually reliable for Manager Edgardo Alfonzo. Cannon Chadwick and Steven Villines both posted sub-2 ERA’s to lead this group. Chadwick spent the whole season in Brooklyn and struck out 40 over his 27 IP. Villines has some funk in his delivery and was promoted after a hot start in Kingsport. Villines edged out Chadwick for the Fireman award below due to his crazy 30 K: 1 BB ratio with Brooklyn. Trey Cobb (30 K: 10 BB over 27.1 IP) and Conner O’Neil (28 K: 9 BB over 24.2 IP) also fall into this group, and all four should start 2018 in Columbia’s bullpen.

Gregorix Estevez recovered from a rough start to the season to post a 3.77 ERA, but his 26 K: 26 BB ratio led to an offseason release. Relievers Joe Napolitano (6.17 ERA), Kurtis Horne (11.37 ERA), and Placido Torres (3.60 ERA) were also given pink slips after the season ended, as were starters Gunnar Kines (3.00 ERA), Luis De Los Santos (11.00 ERA), and Jose Geraldo (2.33 ERA). I’m a little confused why Placido Torres (8^th round, 2016) didn’t get more of a shot within the Mets system, especially considering how desperate they were for arms by the end of 2017, but there’s probably more to the story than just performance. Geraldo made NYPL hitters look bad on MiLB.tv during a few of his starts with Brooklyn, but I later found out he was mid/upper 80’s with his fastball, which is well below average for a righty.

There was a lot of turnover in the Cyclones rotation, as 19 different players made at least one start for Brooklyn last year, but there was a group that stayed on regular starting/piggyback-starting work for most of the season. Nicolas Debora easily led that group with a 2.33 ERA over 54 IP, and proved to be the most reliable pitcher for Brooklyn all season. Jose Carlos Medina (3.53 ERA) was one of the few pitchers who could be relied upon for some depth, as he averaged a little over 5 IP per appearance. Trent Johnson (5.95 ERA) had a very up-and-down season for Brooklyn, allowing 1 R or fewer in 7 of his 15 appearances, 2 R in one appearance, and 4 R or more in the other 7 appearances. Lastly, there was Jake Simon, the biggest disappointment on the team in my opinion. The young lefty finished with a 6.53 ERA and 27 K: 27 BB over 40 IP, as he apparently struggled to find consistent mechanics.

Darwin Ramos was promoted to Columbia in early August otherwise he would’ve fell into the previous group. Ramos allowed 9 ER over his first 2 starts, but then struck out 27 with a 1.85 ERA over his next 24.1 IP to earn the promo.

Ryan McAuliffe and Briam Campusano were both promoted to Brooklyn to finish the season and both ended up making 2 successful starts for the Cyclones. McAuliffe might earn a spot with Columbia to start 2018, but I’d guess he ends up in Brooklyn’s rotation next year. Campusano is a year younger and probably in the same boat competing for a spot with Columbia to start 2018, but I’d guess he has a higher chance of making the Fireflies. Campusano spent time with 4 different affiliates in 2017, and he wasn’t overmatched in his two appearances with St. Lucie.

Not including major league and minor league rehabbers, the remaining two pitchers of interest were both drafted last year: Tony Dibrell was taken in the 4^th round and Marcel Renteria in the 6^th round. Either could prove to be an interesting pitcher for Columbia in 2018, but neither found much success with Brooklyn last year.

If you thought getting through the Cyclones Season in Review was tough, just imagine what it must’ve been like for Cyclones play-by-play man Stu Johnson, and he’s had to sit through a 94-134 record (.412 Winning-%) over the past three seasons. Fortunately, team W-L record means very little at the short-season A-ball level, and a number of players from this team could end up becoming interesting prospects. David Peterson is already a consensus top-5 prospect within the system. Brooklyn’s top player spent most of the season as a DH with little homer pop, so Walter Rasquin will have to show an ability to at least play 2B moving forward to be interesting. There’s also reason to believe any of the following prospects could see a big bump in their system ranking during 2018: Quinn Brodey, Edgardo Fermin, Guillermo Granadillo, Wagner Lagrange, Jose Medina, Jeremy Vasquez, Matt Winaker, Brooklyn’s group of good relievers, Tony Dibrell, and Marcel Renteria.

Astro’s Awards

MVP: Walter Rasquin

Cy: Nicolas Debora

Fireman: Stephen Villines

Coaches

Manager: Edgardo Alfonzo

Pitching coach: Royce Ring

Hitting coach: Sean Ratliff

Other: Giovanni D’Onza (Athletic Trainer)

Team Stats/Rankings

W-L

Overall: 24-52 (.316)

Home: 14-24 (.368)*

Road: 10-28 (.263)

*Attendance: 186,853 (5,190 average)

Day: 5-3

Night: 19-49

June: 2-8 (.200)

July: 11-19 (.367)

August: 8-21 (.276)

September: 3-4 (.429)

One-run Games: 12-14 (.462)

Shutouts: 3-7 (.300)

Offense

Table 1 – 14-team league, stats below per BB-Ref

STAT	Mets	Rank
Average Batter Age	21.2	t-8
Runs/Game	3.17	14
Hits	560	10
Doubles	104	t-11
Triples	12	t-14
Homeruns	17	14
RBI	202	14
Stolen Bases	100	1
Caught Stealing	38	12
Strikeouts	643	8
Walks	235	9
Average	.232	t-10
On-base %	.309	t-11
Slugging %	.305	14
GIDP	56	13
Sac bunts	10	9
Sac flies	19	10

Pitching

Table 2 – 14-team league, stats below per BB-Ref

STAT	Mets	Rank
Average Pitcher Age	21.9	12
Runs/Game	4.79	12
ERA	4.18	14
IP	639	12
Batters Faced	2,827	5
Hits	637	11
Homeruns	44	t-12
Strikeouts	624	t-7
Walks	263	11
HBP	50	t-11
Wild Pitches	81	11
Shutouts	3	t-12

Defense

Table 3 – 14-team league, stats below per BB-Ref

STAT	Mets	Rank
Errors	89	t-8
Fielding %	.967	t-8
Passed balls	18	t-9
Stolen bases allowed	80	13
Runners caught stealing	36	3
CS%	31%	t-8

ªHat tip to the Cyclones game notes for help gathering these stats

Cyclones on the NYPL Leaderboards

Offense

Top-10 among qualified hitters, per Fangraphs

Runs

Walter Rasquin, 41, t-3^rd

Hits

Walter Rasquin, 73, 2^nd

Doubles

Walter Rasquin, 21, 1^st

Stolen Bases

Walter Rasquin, 32, 1^st (Franchise record!)

Jose Miguel Medina, 25, 3^rd

Average

Walter Rasquin, .300, 6^th

BABIP

Jose Miguel Medina, .356, 10^th

Pitching

Top-10 per Fangraphs, minimum 30 IP

BB%

Jose Carlos Medina, 3.2%, 9^th

Groundball%

Jose Carlos Medina, 59.1%, 8^th

Promotions

(Initial promo date)

- Ian Strom (6/29)

- Keaton Aldridge (7/27)

- Martin Anderson (7/29)

- Darwin Ramos (8/5)

- Reed Gamache (8/8)

- Jose Carlos Medina (8/16)

- Quinn Brodey (8/26)

Injuries

(Last appearance)

- Matt Winaker (7/19) – Shoulder issue

- Kurtis Horne (7/20) – Ankle issue

- Gunnar Kines (7/28) – Broke his ankle

- Leon Byrd (8/10) – Elbow issue

- Edgardo Fermin (9/4) – Missed most of August and then might’ve tweaked something again in September

Free Agents/Released

- Jose Geraldo (Released 10/12)

- Cecilio Aybar (Released 10/12)

- Franklin Correa (Released 10/12)

- Jeremy Wolf (Released 10/13)

- Joe Napolitano (Released 10/13)

- Kurtis Horne (Released 10/17)

- Placido Torres (Released 10/17)

- Leon Byrd (Released 10/17)

- Gunnar Kines (Released 10/17)

- Gregorix Estevez (Released 10/17)

- Luis De Los Santos (Released 1/19)

Recaps

(20 Games Covered)

Date – Starting Pitcher

GIFs

(4)

• 7/4

- News10

RBI single for Quinn Brodey

• 7/5

- CBS6 Albany

RBI single for Reed Gamache

RBI single for Quinn Brodey

• 7/13

- WYTV

RBI single for Scott Manea

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— Kim Kowal Arcand (@kimberlykowal) September 22, 2017

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Monday, February 19, 2018