Cyclones start second half with promotions and a call-up

After winning the first half of the season with an impressive 46-20 record, the Cyclones returned from Aberdeen to Brooklyn to play the Jersey Shore BlueClaws in another six-game set.

Similar to their previous week in Aberdeen, the Cyclones again won five of six games to start the second half with a 7-2 record for a first-place division tie with the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Upon their return to Brooklyn, the team’s roster significantly changed with the promotion of two of their best hitters to Double-A Binghamton.

Playing for Brooklyn for a second season due to a 2024 injury, the hard-hitting Jacob Reimer left the Cyclones as one of the team’s top home run hitters (eight). Reimer also led the team with 52 runs scored along with 39 RBIs and a .284 average. Reimer was also a much-improved defensive third baseman who could play first when needed.

Along with Reimer, the Mets’ 2024 first-round draft pick, outfielder Carson Benge, was also promoted to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. After playing just a few games to end the 2024 season at Single-A St. Lucie, this year Benge took the High-A South Atlantic League by storm with a league-leading 18 doubles and five triples. Hitting .302 at the leadoff spot, the Oklahoma State product was second in the league with 47 runs scored.  Normally a centerfielder, Benge is capable at either corner outfield position and has one of the strongest arms in the league, preventing runners from taking extra bases.

On that same June 23 day of the promotions, Collin Houck was called up from St. Lucie. The Mets’ 2023 first-round high school draft pick from Georgia spent last season at St. Lucie and returned there this year. He played 58 games, scored 43 runs, hit 14 doubles, five triples and eighth home runs and had 38 RBIs and a .252 batting average. In his first week at Brooklyn starting at third base, Houck had a slow start, but in the last game of the BlueClaws series in Lakewood he went 2-for-3 with a double and a single and scored a run in a 6-4 win. Houck also made the Cyclones’ defensive play of the game at shortstop by smothering a ground ball on an outstretched horizontal leap followed by a laser throw to first for the out.

Right now it’s a positive vibe in the Cyclone dugout as some of the team’s unfamiliar faces get a chance for more reps to show the fans their talents. Before each game as the Cyclones come into the dugout from their pre-game practice, they greet each other with high-fives and the enthusiastic repeated phrase, “Play to win, play to win!”