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Brooklyn Cyclones announce roster for 15th season

Kick off Anniversary Campaign Friday Night in Staten Island

June 18, 2015 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The 2015 Brooklyn Cyclones will kick off the franchise’s 15th anniversary season Friday night in Staten Island against the rival Yankees. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Cyclones
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It will start as it always does, with a rivalry series against the Staten Island Yankees beginning with Friday night’s visit to Richmond County Bank Ballpark just across the Verrazano Bridge before Saturday evening’s home opener at MCU Park.

But how this 15th anniversary season winds up for the Brooklyn Cyclones, still longing for their first New York-Penn League title since their inaugural 2001 campaign, is anyone’s guess.

Especially when considering that most members of the 2015 squad are either newcomers to Coney Island, or first-year pro ballplayers just drafted by the parent-club New York Mets out of high school or college.

The Cyclones, as is their custom, officially released their 2015 Opening Day roster Wednesday, revealing the names of the 30 players that will at least begin their summer along Surf Avenue in the home of Class A short-season baseball’s most-watched franchise.

Brooklyn also indicated that Tyler Badamo, a 22-year-old right-hander from Mount Sinai, N.Y., will receive the honor of starting Saturday night’s home opener against the Yankees after spending last season with the Mets’ Gulf Coast League affiliate.

Badamo, who went 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA in 10 outings, including four starts for the GCL Mets in 2014, is no stranger to MCU Park.

According to the team’s website, Badamo visited the park many times as a kid growing up in Suffolk County, and even played on the diamond in the Best of Long Island vs. Team USA All-Star Game during his senior year of high school.

“It’s nice to be on the other side of it,” Badamo, the Dowling College alum said. “It’s a nice change of pace actually being the home field and whatnot. Being a New Yorker [playing] in New York is nice.”

Other hurlers of interest on this year’s staff include seventh-round pick Corey Taylor out of Texas Tech and Southpaw P.J. Conlon, a 13th-round selection from the University of San Diego.

Taylor was recently named a third team All-American selection by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association after posting an NCAA-best 0.31 ERA out of the Red Raiders’ bullpen this past season.

The flame-thrower could be an option for second-year manager Tom Gamboa as a potential closer, or late-inning set-up man.

Conlon was a first-team All-West Coast Conference selection after pitching the Toreros to a conference title with a 6-4 record and 2.17 ERA.

Vinny Siena, a 14th-round pick from UConn who hails from Woodbridge, Conn., will be Brooklyn’s only recent draftee in the infield, which is loaded with four returning candidates for playing time from 2014 including Jeff Diehl, Will Fulmer, Michael Katz and Alfredo Reyes.

Michael Bernal, who drove in 36 runs in 71 games en route to New York-Penn League All-Star honors for the Cyclones last summer is listed as one of four outfielders on the Brooklyn roster.

He is joined by Oswald Carabello, Tucker Tharp and Emmanuel Zabala, each of whom has spent time in the Mets’ minor league system.

Jose Garcia and Manuel Hilario are listed as the Cyclones’ two catchers. Garcia was with Rookie-level Kingsport last year while Hilario is making the jump from the GCL to Coney Island.

Of course, none of these names mean much to Cyclones fans at the moment, but over the 76-game, nearly three-month grind of the upcoming seaso, they will become as familiar as the ones who graced the playing surface at MCU Park during each of the previous 14 summers.

Last year, the Brooklyn staff helped hone the skills of notable Mets prospects like left fielder Michael Conforto, who hit a sizzling .331 to drive the Cyclones to the brink of a New York-Penn League playoff spot, only to fall short to Connecticut with a head-to-head tiebreaker.

With the Nets off for the summer and the Islanders yet to arrive in Brooklyn for their inaugural campaign here, our borough belongs to the Cyclones from mid-June until early September.

“The 2015 season will be a very special one for our franchise,” said Cyclones Vice President Steve Cohen. “We will be celebrating our 15th season as a franchise and will be welcoming the 4 millionth fan through the gates of MCU Park.

“But we are also hopeful that, under the guidance of this very experienced staff, we will return to the playoffs and contend for a New York-Penn League Championship.”

Play Ball!

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