Cyclones’ Thornton named Pitcher of the Week

After a successful 6-3 homestand to open the season, the Cyclones headed to Maryland to play Cal Ripken’s Aberdeen Iron Birds. Brooklyn’s winning ways carried over to Aberdeen as the Cyclones won four of their six games to finish the week with a 10-5 record for third place in the High-A North Division of the South Atlantic League.

With last season’s pitching prospects promoted to either Double-A Binghamton or Triple-A Syracuse, one of this season’s second-year Cyclones has jumped into the limelight. In one particular game in Aberdeen, New York Met hopeful Zach Thornton stood as he threw eight strikeouts through six scoreless innings for his third consecutive win. Giving up just one hit over six, the Mets’ 2023 fifth-round draft pick from Grand Canyon University improved his pitching line to 3-0 with 22 strikeouts over 16 innings along with a 0.00 ERA to earn Mets Minor League Pitcher of the Week honors.

Keeping the Iron Birds scoreless as well as hitless for the last three innings of this 5-0 win was managed by bullpen relievers Anthony Nunez and Saul Garcia to sew up the Cyclones’ one hit-shutout.

After observing Thornton for the first three weeks, Cyclones radio broadcaster Justin Rocke said, “Thornton has been exquisite to start the season. He’s attacked the zone and consistently induced weak contact while working quickly. It appears his fastball has picked up a few ticks in velocity and his command has been stellar to go along.

“I’m excited to see how he continues to develop as the season unfolds.  There’s no reason he can’t be a Top 30 prospect by mid-season.”

Contributing offensively to the road trip has been hot-hitting third baseman Jacob Reimer, who leads the team in average (.345) and also with 13 runs scored. Setting a torrid pace from opening day, Reimer was named to last week’s MiLB’s Prospect Team of the Week.

Keeping pace with Reimer has been catcher Chris Suero, who belted two home runs in one game in Aberdeen to raise his total to a team-leading five. Since his home run off the scoreboard on opening day, the “Boy from the Bronx” continues to be on a tear with a .283 average and a team-leading 16 RBIs. Along with Reimer, Suero was also named to the Prospect Team of the Week.