Cyclone alumni shine at Mets’ Sterling Awards

Waiting for this year’s Sterling Awards ceremony to start before the September 21 Braves game at Citi Field, the Mets’ top minor league performers milled around the dugout in their newly minted number “15” pinstriped uniforms designating their MVP status for the 2015 season. For many players, this would be their first trip to Flushing to see the field where they aspire to play some day as major leaguers.

That major league aspiration was even more punctuated when the Mets’ left fielder Michael Conforto entered the dugout, greeting the 11 other Met honorees on his way to put his bats into the rack.

Chatting among players he’d already played with this season in the minors, Conforto stood out among these minor league prospects dressed in his khaki camouflage uniform jersey for the Mets’ Military Night.

Not only did Conforto visually stand out among his fellow honorees, but each of the honorees knew that Conforto stood out for his accomplishment to reach the major leagues within one year of his 2014 professional debut as a Brooklyn Cyclone, along with a four-month 2015 split season spent between Single-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton.

When asked what the biggest difference was playing in the majors as opposed to the minors, Conforto answered, “Consistency!” The Mets rookie went on to explain, “Although there isn’t a substantial talent jump for the minors, the consistency of the level of play of the pitchers and the hitters stands out up here.” While noting this difference, the Mets Player of the Year stated that this was now the challenge facing him — to play at that consistent level.

Also taking top honors as the Mets Minor League Pitcher of the Year was another Cyclone alumnus, right-handed pitcher Robert Gsellman, who earned his first Sterling Award as Brooklyn’s MVP in 2013. This season, Gsellman stood out as the Mets’ minor league top hurler, amassing a record of 13-7 for the highest number of wins in the Mets’ farm system along with a third ranked 2.89 ERA for a season split between St. Lucie and Binghamton.

For the Cyclones, given the team’s pitching performance this season, there was no doubt that this year’s winner was going to be a pitcher. For the first time, the award was given to a Cyclone relief pitcher, Alex Palsha, who earned the Sterling Award with a 0.36 ERA over 24.2 innings for 13 saves. Additionally Palsha limited opponents to a .125 batting average and struck out 34 over his 22 appearances.

As for his favorite moment this past season, Palsha recalled being nervous debuting at MCU Park for the first time. After that, Palsha stated that he settled down and got used to the grind of playing every day.

Looking back at Brooklyn as a learning experience, the California native stated that establishing a routine was important for him to be successful. Noting that his walk total was somewhat up this year, Palsha added, “In order to improve, I’m going to work on pounding the zone some more.”

Other Sterling Award winners not pictured in this article’s photo were Kingsport’s Patrick Mazeika and Kevin Kaczmarski, Rookie level Gulf Coast Mets’ Adonis Uceta, and Dominican Summer League players Wagner Lagrange and Nicolas Debora.

Although not familiar to us now, these players may be possibly household names at MCU Park for the upcoming 2016 season.