When Zach Lutz went down after two at bats last season, many Cyclones fans wondered who was going to fill the void at third base. However, the wondering didn’t last for long as JR Voyles quickly established himself as a dependable replacement on the field and in the batter’s box. After replacing Lutz on Opening Day, Voyles hit a three-run homer to give the Cyclones their first win of the season and kept the team going in a positive direction after the highest drafted player on the team was injured.

As the season wore on, Voyles became something of a fan favorite, quickly being dubbed J-RBI by Cyclones announcer Warner Fusselle and J-Money by yours truly. However, as the season wore on, Voyles was hit by the injury bug and it hurt his overall production, which could have been immensely better than the .254 batting average and 29 RBI he ended up with by season’s end. He was also drilled in the head by a pitch towards the end of the season in what had to be one of the scariest accidents I have ever seen on a baseball diamond. However, Voyles was back the next game [with a shiner the size of a coconut mind up] and even though he didn’t play, he gave his team the drive to continue their playoff push. A man of few words, Voyles, like a few of his teammates, did his talking on the field.

“It feels good to have an important role on the team,” said Voyles after he began to establish himself with the team, reaching base in eight of the team’s first nine games last season. “Eventually, everyone is going to get hot. Good hitting is contagious.”

While he wasn’t much of a talker, Voyles did say on more than a few occasions that he was happy he was playing so well because he didn’t see himself being more than a pinch-hitter/ defensive replacement on the team that year. Cyclones manager Edgar Alfonzo thought otherwise though.

“I don’t know why he thought he wasn’t going to have a big role here, because right now, he’s so important to this team,” said Alfonzo. “I knew in extended spring training that he was something special and now he’s proving it. He’s a gamer. He does so many things well and he’s been a huge reason why we’ve been so successful this season.”

While so many would quickly point to his stats as the reason why he was so liked by the fans, I beg to differ. Seeing this guy battle for a spot on the team and then go out and make the most of it really made him endearing to the fans and more importantly, his teammates, who looked at him as kind of a spiritual leader. Again, while he wasn’t nearly as successful in the second half of the season, he was the team’s MVP through the first 40 games of the season and was one of the reasons why they made the playoffs.

Currently hitting .260 with 13 hits in 16 games this season for the St. Lucie Mets, Voyles is now proving that he can hit at higher levels in the organization. Able to play second base and shortstop in addition to the hot corner, Voyles may just continue to surprise a few people as he advances through the organization.

Photo by Daniel Wos 

I remember early last season when someone showed me a Micah Schilling baseball card from 2002 that said he had a swing like Will Clark. “What the hell is this guy doing here,” I said aloud, wondering how and why a former first round pick from another organization could wander his way into the organization. Then I looked up his stats and the answer hit me like a ton of bricks.

Before last season, where he hit .283 in 71 games, Schilling never cracked .270 in five years in the Indians organization, all in Rookie and Single-A ball, prompting them to give up on the 24-year old. Far from washed up, Schilling turned in a solid season for Brooklyn last year, hitting in virtually every slot in the lineup and playing solid second base. He also showed solid speed, swiping a career-high 13 bases. A few years older than most of the other guys on the team, Schilling was a more than capable leader, but wasn’t very adamant in the club house. Instead, he was more the silent type, who did his talking on the field.

With so much more experience than his teammates, Schilling definitely had some stories to tell. I wouldn’t be surprised if he helped a lot of the youngsters along last season when things got tough. One story he told me, about being an 18-year old prospect in the Indians system, showed just how much he’s been through and how tough he’s had to work over the course of his career.

“Age-wise, it’s not a big deal, but maturity and interests wise, it’s huge. I couldn’t even go to bars or restaurants with some of the guys if I wanted. On the field, it was hard too because I was always the youngest. Now I’m older, but I think it’s an advantage, I have a lot more experience now.”

For that, I had a lot of respect for him. A lot of people in his situation could have been bitter to the media. I mean, this is a guy that most people expected to be a star at this point and instead, he’s stuck in Single-A ball. However, Schilling talked to whoever wanted to hear his story or just pick his brain. In the end, I think he was one of the most approachable guys on the team, making me wonder why he was even there in the first place. He definitely proved himself on the field when he had to and he showed the moxie of a professional ball player by the way he carried himself. Nonetheless, the organization never sent him up during the season.

With that being said, I certainly expected the guy to get a chance at making St. Lucie’s roster or maybe even Binghamton this season. However, as of right now, he hasn’t had a single at bat at any level in the organization this season, making me think he’s stuck in extended Spring Training. As much as I’d like to watch him play again, I’d much rather see him in Double-A at this point in his career. If he is stuck in Brooklyn again this year, I hope it’s not for long.

Photos by Daniel Wos

Since I’ve already discussed how dominant guys like Joe Smith, Eric Brown and Tobi Stoner, I figured I almost had to talk about Jeremy Mizell, who arguably was just as successful in 2006.

Signed as a free agent from South Eastern Louisiana University in 2006, Mizell went 2-0 with a 1.18 ERA in 18 appearances for Brooklyn that season. While Joe Smith got a lot of the credit for the Cyclones success after a horrible start that year, it was usually Mizell who was setting the table for him. The fact that Mizell relied more on solid off-speed pitches and mixes them in with a good fastball, rather than the overpowering heat Smith brought into every game, was easily one of the reasons why Smith was so successful why he was in Brooklyn.

However, while he was a completely different pitcher than Smith, that didn’t mean he didn’t have good stuff. Throwing a two-seam and four-seam fastball with a good changeup and an even better curveball, Mizell could have been a solid starter that season as well. He had good control, mixed his pitches well and never relied on the strikeout or groundball. Like many older pitchers, Mizell didn’t care how he got hitters out. That was one of the biggest reasons why I think he was so dependable in 2006.

His presence on the mound was also more than solid. A big Roger Clemens fan growing up, I saw a lot of that, not in his stuff of course, but just how he looked on the mound. He never got flustered and always maintained his composure out there.

“I’ve always looked up to Roger Clemens because I like his attitude; give me the ball and I’m coming after you with everything I got. Some days he gets beat, it’s not very often, but for the most part, he’s coming right after hitters and that’s the kind of attitude I’ve always had,” said Mizell. “I’m going to come after you with my best stuff and if you beat me, I’ll tip my hat to you.”

To hear a young reliever say something like that and then see him prove it on the mound all season, you’ve got to like his chances at making something of himself.

Nonetheless, for a guy that didn’t give up an earned run through the first ¾ of the season, the guy didn’t get that much media attention. Despite that though, the league was smart enough to see his talent, making him a selection to the 2006 NY-Penn League All-Star game.

For a guy enjoying that type of success, he was also pretty humble.

“It’s my role to come into games in late innings and get us out of jams,” said Mizell during the season. “I’m just the guy that bridges that gap between the starter and the closer.”

Even though he struggled last season as a starter with Savannah, going 3-15 with an ERA of 6.75, I still think he’s got the potential to be a solid middle reliever. His lack of velocity may hurt him as a starter and leave him too open to be successful, which means his only future would be out of the bullpen. He’s still listed as active on the Sand Gnats on Milb.com, but I have no idea where he is in the system right now, which means he could have either been released or is injured.

Regardless of what happens to him in the future though, I’ll always remember how successful he was in Brooklyn in 2006.

Photos by Conroy Walker

He may not be one of the all-time greats to put on a Cyclones uniform, but infielder Tim Grogan was a clutch performer for the Cyclones in 2006. Despite hitting .231 during the season, he was third on the team with 23 RBI and several big games down the stretch for the club.

If I could best describe Grogan in a word, it would probably be “streaky.” Some days he looked so solid out there that you thought for a second he could make it to the big leagues. At other times though, he looked extremely overmatched at the plate and you didn’t know what to make of him. However, he was always solid on the field, especially at third base, where he made several sensational plays throughout the season.

I don’t know, maybe because I’m a life-long Mets fan, but I immediately saw a resemblance to Robin Ventura in this guy. His range, the way he moved at third, it was all there. When I interviewed him that year, it seems that someone else thought so too.

“I was drafted out of high school by the White Sox and the scouts told me I reminded them a lot of Robin Ventura,” he said. “A lot of the guys on team say that I hit a lot like Chipper Jones, but my favorite player was always Ken Griffey Jr. He plays a totally different position then me and is a totally different type of player but boy, would it be great to have a swing like his.”

However, Grogan’s inconsistency at the plate was his undoing in the organization, as he’s now playing in the Frontier League. Looking through some old quotes I had from him, it seemed he knew what the future held if he didn’t start to produce more offensively.

“Being a left-handed hitter, with the potential to hit is the biggest thing I bring to the table,” he said. “I’ve shown signs of it, but I haven’t been able to put anything together on a consistent basis.”

Hitting .239 with nine homers and 45 RBI in 82 games last season in the Frontier League, maybe Grogan still has a shot at getting back into pro ball. With a .329 career on base percentage and 77 walks to his credit in only 164 games, he’s a much smarter hitter than most give him credit for. He’s only 24 years old as well, so he has a good few years left to try and make something of his career.

Regardless of what happens though, I’ll always remember Grogan as a more than solid defensive player who showed flashes of dominance at the plate.

Photos by Conroy Walker

In the summer of 2005, I took over as the Editor-In-Chief of my first College Newspaper, Scepter. During that time, I was preoccupied trying to revamp a paper that no one on that campus read. In the process, I snagged an interview with David Wright and slowly began to get readership back. Nonetheless, It was during that time that I was hearing so much about another baseball player every time I turned on the local news in Brooklyn, one Joe Holden. It seemed that this kid had the goods, particularly the speed [22 stolen bases in short season ball will give you that type of reputation] to be the next youngster to one day make the show. However, because of my busy schedule, I never got a chance to watch him in person that year.

Luckily for me and perhaps unlucky for Holden, the Cyclones got off to a horrible start in 2006 and after a while it was obvious that they needed help scoring runs., prompting him to be called down from Hagerstown, where he would spend the rest of the season. However, the Joe Holden the Clones got back, was almost a completely different player. After hitting .291 with no homers and 15 RBI in over 60 games with Brooklyn in 2005, Holden developed some pop in his bat and was hitting .300 with six homers and 25 RBI in only 38 games.

Many reporters expected Holden to be quite teed off that the team would send him down after he started off so strong, but he never voiced his opinion on the subject. Rather, he just went out there and did his job. I’m sure a few of the writers knew that he was obviously frustrated at times, but like I said, he was always the consummate professional. That above everything else was something I think he teammates learned from and rallied around.

But back to Super Joe…I remember asking him where he got all that power from that season and he told me that it was due to the fact that he was finally starting to get comfortable with wooden bats. At any rate, it looked like he was going to be the savior for what was looking to be a dismal season.

While it didn’t particularly turn out that way, Holden did marvel the crowd with amazing defense and smacked an additional six homers and 24 RBI in 65 games with Brooklyn, in addition to being completely adored by the fans there. The next season in Savannah, he hit .260 with another six homers, 19 steals and 29 RBI, which hurt his stock as a prospect a tad. Nevertheless, while some are quick to suggest his star isn’t as bright as it was before, chances are this will probably be the last season Holden will play in Single-A before moving on to tougher competition.

Just a quick side note, I have an interview set up with former Cyclone Brant Rustich on Friday and will have an interview with author Ross Bernstein, author of “The Code: Baseball’s Unwritten Rules and It’s Ignore-at-Your-Own-Risk Code of Conduct,” which should be an interesting read for all of you guys.

Photos by Conroy Walker