I’m cheating a bit this week to feature two baseball cards of New York Mets prospects. And I’m pretty sure I got my set of 2015 New York-Penn League Top Prospects at a Staten Island Yankees game I went to in September with my friend Greg.
But let’s talk about our two Brooklyn Cyclones players.
Continue reading “Mets Baseball Cards of the Week: 2015 NY Penn League Prospects”
Hudson Valley Renegades pitcher Angel Yepez didn’t allow a hit over six innings last night as the Tampa Bay Rays farm team held on to beat the Staten Island Yankees 7-5.
“He was in an unbelievable rhythm,” said Renegades pitching coach Brian Reith told MiLB.com. “He walked the leadoff man in the second, and then he just caught fire and retired the next 15 in a row. It was great to see.”
Yet just when those of us in the stands were starting to think about the possibility of watching a no-hitter, Hudson Valley manager Tim Parenton already knew we weren’t going to watch Yepez try to complete one. He had reliever Diego Castillo warm up in the top of the seventh while his team was hitting.
And Castillo came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh, yielding a hit to Griffin Gordon to spoil the bid and three runs to the Staten Island Yankees to get them back into the game.
Yepez, who did earn his first victory of the season for his efforts, threw just 63 pitches – 42 for strikes. But the 20-year-old prospect had not pitched more than five innings this season and pitched just 72 2/3 innings over 19 appearances with the Venezuelan Summer League Rays and Gulf Coast League Rays last year. A complete game performance just wasn’t in the cards.
My friend Greg couldn’t understand why Yepez wasn’t allowed to stay in until he gave up a hit or finished the game. I’d assumed a pitch count much closer to 100 (unlike major league stadiums, there’s no pitch tracking info on the scoreboard at Richmond County Bank Ballpark), or I would have been wondering the same thing.
But as the Tom Verducci column I linked last week pointed out, baseball has changed. The idea of starting pitchers throwing complete games is antiquated. Shutouts are more of a novelty than a measure of a pitcher’s dominance in 2015. No-hitters are probably on their way to becoming even more of a rarity than they already are.
And that’s a shame. You can show me all the numbers you want to prove that it’s better to send out a reliever for that third or fourth trip through the batting order — I know you’re right. But I miss watching starting pitchers facing that challenge.
Barring an organizational mandate to pull him at a certain pitch count, I would have sent Yepez out to start the seventh inning last night. And I would have let Johan Santana pitch just as long as Terry Collins did on June 1, 2012.
But let’s hand you the lineup card and put you in the dugout: when would you take the ball away from a pitcher working on a no-hitter?
The Brooklyn Cyclones will host the 10th Annual New York-Penn League All-Star Game on Tuesday, August 19th, team and league officials announced today.
“We are excited that the NYPL All-Star Game is coming back to Brooklyn,” Cyclones Vice President Steve Cohen said in a press release. “It’s been almost 10 years since we hosted the game, and we are excited for the opportunity to show the fans, players, and executives from around the league the transformation that Coney Island has undergone.”
The team also unveiled the uniform designs that the All-Star players will be wearing. In a nod to the 75th anniversary of the New York-Penn League, the All-Star jersey will include the names of every NYPL player who went on to the major leagues.
People who buy full or partial Brooklyn Cyclones season ticket plans will be guaranteed tickets to the All-Star Game. Individual tickets will be placed on sale in April. For more information, visit BrooklynCyclones.com.
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The Staten Island Yankees will host the Brooklyn Cyclones on Monday, June 17th at 7 p.m. to open the 2013 season. The Cyclones’ home opener comes one day later, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18th.
The standard game times for Brooklyn will be 7 p.m. on weeknights, 6 p.m. on Saturdays and 5 p.m. on Sundays. Staten Island will play most home games at 7 p.m., with Sunday games starting at 4 p.m. Both teams will hold a handful of midweek “camp days” with 11 a.m. start times. Full schedules for the Cyclones and S.I. Yankees are posted on the teams’ websites.
Check the Brooklyn Cyclones and Staten Island Yankees websites for information about 2013 ticket sales and promotional schedules when they are released.
Will you go to a New York-Penn League game in 2013?
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I really haven’t been posting regularly for the past two months. Partly it’s because of the mix of apathy and frustration that the New York Mets have inspired, but mostly it’s been because of personal issues. I don’t think I’m going to be back to writing every day anytime soon, but I will try to do better than I have been. I’ve been a bit more active on Twitter (@PaulsRandomStuf) and Instagram (@pauleybaseball), since they are easier to access via my phone when I have a few free minutes.
Congratulations to the Akron Aeros, who defeated the Trenton Thunder last night to win the 2012 Eastern League championship title. I didn’t get to see any of the series, but I did watch the Thunder beat the Reading Phillies to advance past the first round. The Reading Phillies were very gracious after their defeat, hanging out to sign autographs and handing out cleats and caps to their south Jersey fans after the game. Darin Ruf, who gave me what will probably be my final baseball park autograph of the season, had reason to want to celebrate – he was headed up to the big leagues. The rest of the guys could have been forgiven if they just wanted to get home.
As for the other leagues I followed to some degree this season, congratulations to the Quebec Capitales, who won their fourth straight Can-Am League championship title, and the Hudson Valley Renegades, who won the New York-Penn League crown. The Brooklyn Cyclones reached the NY-Penn League playoffs, but were knocked out in the first round.
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