Mets Draft Picks Hit Dingers
For more than a thousand young men every year, hearing their name called in the MLB Draft is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
It also opens the book on an entirely new set of goals: make an impact in the pros, move up the minor-league ladder, and, as all ballplayers hope, get the call to the bigs.
For a handful of Cyclones whose time in the Mets organization has lasted less than three weeks, they’ve already gotten to work on making a ticker-tape impact.
After 6th-round draft pick Zach Ashford went deep last night in Staten Island, he became the third 2019 Mets selection to blast his first professional home run with Brooklyn, joining 7th-rounder Luke Ritter and 9th-rounder Joe Genord in the home-run club.
“It was an awesome feeling. Home runs don’t come often for me,” Ashford said. “I’m usually a guy who tries to go gap-to-gap, so it was sweet.”
He’s right. The Clovis, Calif. native cranked only seven home runs in more than 700 career at-bats as a four-year starting outfielder at Fresno State.
For Genord, who finished third on USF’s all-time home run list with 44 in his career, hitting baseballs over fences is something he was drafted to do.
That’s one reason why it was no surprise that, just four innings into Opening Day last Friday, the first baseman smashed a 412-foot home run over the left-center field fence at MCU Park.
“He just happened to leave a slider a little too high. I didn’t get my “A” swing on it,” Genord said. “I was a little early, but I caught enough barrel to get it out. Starting your professional career with a home run is always amazing. It’s what I came here to do. I didn’t come here to hit singles.”
And then there’s Ritter, the utilityman from Wichita State who would let nothing rain on his first-pro-home-run parade.
His blast came on Monday against Aberdeen, a 102-mph laser that slammed into MCU Park’s left-field foul pole. Home-plate umpire Justin Juska initially called it foul, but Ritter rounded the bases while the umpires figured out the correct call.
“I didn’t even know what was going on,” the Overland Park, Kan. native said. “I was told in the dugout they originally called it foul, and then everybody told me it was fair. I was so happy.”
Any doubt of the final ruling was erased soon after Ritter touched home. Billy Harner, the Cyclones’ director of communications, was able to track down the baseball near MCU Park’s loading dock.
What did Harner find on the home-run ball? Yellow paint.
Genord didn’t think anyone would be able to retrieve his home-run ball, which also represented his first professional hit and the first hit of any player taken in the 2019 MLB Draft. But when a clubhouse employee approached Genord after the game with a baseball, the Lake Worth, Fla. native wasn’t going to disagree.
“I said, ‘This ball is it? Like, the one that went over?’ He said, ‘Yeah, this is it.’ I was like, ‘If you say so, this is it,’” Genord recalls. “’I’m not going to argue with you.’”
The three home runs have been a nice spark for Brooklyn’s lineup, which enters today’s 4 p.m. game against Staten Island with a 4–4 record but a .176 team batting average. Despite the slow start, the Cyclones expect to hit plenty more home runs this summer.
“Just keep sticking to the plan. Keep trusting yourself. Trust the process,” Ashford said of the team’s mindset. The hits will come, the runs will come. We can’t get too down about it because it’s still early in the year.”
— Dom
Today’s Game: Brooklyn vs. Staten Island, 4 p.m.
MCU Park, Brooklyn, NY
Probables: RHP Garrison Bryant (1–0, 1.93) vs. LHP Josh Maciejewski (0–1, 2.70)
Video: Facebook.com/BrooklynCyclones
Tickets: BrooklynCyclones.com/Tickets
