Mets Minors Monday: New Brooklyn Cyclone Lefty Dazzles in Debut

I've been talking about Thomas Szapucki for a bit now. I was a little tongue tied when he was drafted by the Mets last year in the 5th round, but very happier when the Mets convinced him to forgo his college commitment to sign with the team.

From everything I read, he had something of a funk delivery, but the Mets knew they could work with him.

And work with him they have.

Szapucki started his season with the Kingsport Mets, in the lower rookie Appalachian League. In 5 starts, he completely dominated. Seriously, it was ugly.

In 29 innings, he had 47 strikeouts and only 9 walks. And just TWO earned runs. That's nasty.

So the Mets promoted him to the New York - Penn League. It might be safe to say that the Brooklyn Cyclones may have inherited a new ace. In his debut, he went 5.1 innings. He allowed no runs, walked 3, gave up 4 hits. Not the GREATEST stat line. Until you get to his 8 strikeouts. That's fancy.

Szapucki is now going against high round draft picks and college players, and is almost a year and half younger than the league average. And he's started his Cyclones career pretty damn strong.

I don't know how long it will take him to move through the minors, but if he keeps this up it won't be long. I don't want to call him a top prospect, or a future star, but if he finishes the season the way he started it, plenty of other people will be.