Cyclones set new team shutout record

After he pitched in 15 games over 71 innings and recorded 89 strikeouts, it was time to bring up Jack Wenninger from Single-A St. Lucie to the Brooklyn Cyclones to test his talent at the High-A level. Ranked as the Florida State League’s second leading pitcher with 89 strikeouts, the New York Mets’ 2023 sixth-round draft pick out of the University of Illinois was immediately inserted into the Cyclones’ rotation.  

Wenninger, a 20-year-old from the Chicago suburb of Barrington, made a bumpy debut at Wilmington on July 9 for his first loss, giving up five runs on eight hits while only striking out three over 4.2 innings in a 5-3 Cyclones loss. Two weeks later, in a game that he came close to winning, Wenninger pitched well at home against Hudson Valley for a no-decision before reaching his pitch count (76). Allowing just one run on five hits, he struck out eight batters before being lifted after pitching 3.2 innings in a 3-2 Brooklyn win.

Returning to the site of his debut in Wilmington, the 6-foot-4 righthander toed the rubber with some more league experience to earn his first High-A win. His victory set a new single season team record of 12 shutouts as a part of a 2-0 Cyclone win. Similar to his previous outing, Wenninger also had eight strikeouts before reaching his pitch count total of 79 by the end of the fifth inning. Pitching five scoreless innings while giving up just two hits and hitting a batter, Wenninger stranded all three Wilmington runners while the combined bullpen duo of Ryan Ammons and Eduardo Herrera preserved the two-hit shutout.

With 125 total strikeouts between Single-A (89) and High-A (36), Wenninger now ranks second behind this season’s team leader Jonah Tong, who has a 142 combined strikeout total on the same two levels.

Accounting for Wenninger’s success has been his varied pitch repertoire that includes a fastball, curve, cutter, slider, splitter and a recently acquired sweeper. In fact, the sweeper is a new pitch that a number of Cyclones have adopted this season for its deceptiveness. As pitching coach Dan McKinney explained, the sweeper is similar to a curveball since it cuts across the plate. However, unlike the curve, the ball doesn’t drop and sweeps horizontally across the plate to fool the batter.