MLB

Mets 2011 first-round draft pick to play for Cyclones

In recent years, the Brooklyn Cyclones roster has been filled with college draft picks from that year’s draft. Although several college picks from the Mets’ draft earlier this month will begin the season in Brooklyn, this year’s Cyclones roster has a different feel to it.

In fact, the Cyclones, who begin the season Monday at home against the Staten Island Yankees, will have one of the youngest rosters in franchise history. The average age of the team’s roster is just over 21 years old, helped in large part by the inclusion of eight teenagers.

One of those teenagers is Brandon Nimmo, the former Wyoming high school outfielder the Mets took with the 13th pick in the 2011 draft and gave $2.1 million just before last year’s signing deadline to get him out of a commitment to the University of Arkansas. An athletic outfielder who was ranked as the system’s third-best prospect at the start of the season by Baseball America, Nimmo went 8-for-38 (.211) with two homers and four RBIs in 10 minor league games last year.

Another intriguing player is Phillip Evans, a high school pick from last year’s draft. The 19-year-old shortstop from Carlsbad, Calif., taken in the 15th round, went 10-for-34 (.294) in nine games at the end of last season, two in Brooklyn.

BOX SCORE

Another name to keep an eye on is Juan Urbina. The 19-year-old left-hander, the son of former All-Star closer Ugueth Urbina, went 4-6 with a 5.95 ERA in 12 starts last year for Kingsport, the Mets’ Appalachian League affiliate.

There also are, as usual, several high picks from the draft earlier this month, led by former Purdue catcher Kevin Plawecki. The Mets’ supplemental first-round pick had a stellar season, hitting .357 with seven homers and 47 RBIs, while striking out eight times in 223 at-bats.

Along with Urbina, Brooklyn’s pitching staff will be anchored by a trio of selections from this year’s draft: Matt Koch, the Mets’ right handed third-round pick from Louisville , Brandon Welch, a fifth-round pick and a right-hander from Palm Beach Community College, and Paul Sewald, a right-hander from San Diego and a 10th round selection.

Koch, who ranked 61st on Baseball America’s top 500 draft prospects list, went 1-2 with a 3.34 ERA in 32 1/3 innings as a reliever at Louisville this season, striking out 30 and walking eight. Welch, who ranked 135th on that same list, went 4-3 with a 2.83 ERA, striking out 79 and walking 13 in 76 innings. Sewald went 8-4 with a 3.09 ERA for San Diego this spring as a senior, striking out 75 and walking 27 in 84 1/3 innings.