Brooklyn Cyclones Game Notes - Tuesday, April 7 - at Jersey Shore (6:35 PM)
SAL Brooklyn Cyclones

Brooklyn Cyclones Game Notes - Tuesday, April 7 - at Jersey Shore (6:35 PM)

Published on April 7, 2026 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Brooklyn Cyclones News Release


The Brooklyn Cyclones (0- 2, 0- 2) start their first road series of the season against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws (1-1, 1-1) - the High-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies - on Tuesday evening at 6:35 p.m. from ShoreTown Ballpark in Lakewood, N.J.

RHP Joel Díaz (NR) is expected to make his season debut for Brooklyn. Jersey Shore is scheduled to counter with RHP Sam Highfill (NR).

Live coverage on the Cyclones Radio Network, Bally Sports Live, and MiLB.tv will begin at 6:20 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: Before Sunday's rainout, Brooklyn fell to 0-2 to start the campaign for the first time in two years, as Hudson Valley captured Saturday afternoon's contest, 8-1...Brooklyn was held to just one run on three hits...RHP Wyatt Hudepohl struggled in his return to the mound ... Hudepohl surrendered five runs in the first inning alone in his first professional appearance in 686 days...The Cyclones went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and are now 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position through the first two games of the season...SS Core Jackson led the Renegades offensive onslaught with a three-hit day...Jackson was one of four Renegades to finish with a multi-hit effort...Brooklyn's lone tally came courtesy of an RBI fielder's choice from RF Diego Mosquera.

ROSTER MOVES: The Cyclones announced a series of roster moves earlier today...OF Yonatan Henríquez was placed on the 7-day injured list (retro 4/5)...RHP Tanner Witt is back with Brooklyn after providing Triple-A Syracuse with some great length...Witt tossed 3.0 hitless, scoreless innings on April 3 vs. Toledo, allowing just 2 walks while striking out 1 and hitting a batter...Additionally, RHP Irving Cota has rejoined Brooklyn after a brief stint with Double-A Binghamton, during which he did not appear in a game...Finally, INF Kevin Villavicencio was added to the active roster from Single-A St. Lucie...Villavicencio appeared in 4 games with the Cyclones in 2025 and was 5-for-11 at the plate...The 22-year-old also appeared in 39 games with the Cyclones in 2024.

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY: The Cyclones endured their first postponement of the season on Sunday against Hudson Valley, with the game being called due to inclement weather...The 'Clones and 'Gades will make up the contest on a date to-be-determined...Brooklyn experienced just one postponement in April of last season - coincidentally, also against Hudson Valley, on April 11.

LOCK IT DOWN: Although Brooklyn has come up on the short end of the stick in both of its contests, the 'Clones bullpen has been impressive...Through the first two games, Cyclones relievers have allowed just two earned runs through 10 innings of work (1.80 ERA)...Brooklyn relievers have also racked up an impressive 17 strikeouts through the 10 frames...Of note, RHP Bryce Jenkins tossed 1.2 scoreless frames in his High-A debut in Saturday's loss, while RHP Parker Carlson also logged a scoreless effort in his High-A debut on Friday night.

DÍAZ DOMINATION: RHP Joel Díaz projects to take the ball for Brooklyn on Tuesday evening and is hoping to ride the momentum of a strong 2025 into 2026...The righty earned the win with 6.2 innings of shutout ball in Brooklyn's Game 2 North Division Finals clincher at Greensboro...The outing was the longest by a Brooklyn starter in the postseason since RHP Hansel Robles tossed a 9.0-inning complete game shutout in a 4-0 win vs. Hudson Valley in Game 1 of the New York-Penn League Playoffs on September 7, 2012....He was named the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week on August 25 after tossing a career-high 7.0 innings of 1-hit shutout ball, striking out 6, and earning the win on August 22 at Aberdeen...Díaz finished the year 6th in the SAL in ERA (3.80) and WHIP (1.23), tied for 7th in double plays induced (8), 9th in batting average against (.255), and 10th in innings pitched (106.2).

2025 IN REVIEW: A memorable 2025 saw the Cyclones capture their first-ever South Atlantic League Championship...Brooklyn swept their way through the postseason, compiling a perfect 4-0 record with two-game sweeps over Greensboro in the North Division Finals and Hub City in the South Atlantic League Championship Series...It was just the second time Brooklyn inked a playoff spot as a full-season affiliate, joining the 2022 squad...The Cyclones' first-half record of 46-20 was good enough to earn them the first-half crown...Brooklyn was 26-39 in the 2nd half before running the table in the postseason.

AY J-BAY, AY J-BAY: OF John Bay clobbered his first home run of the 2026 season on Opening Night, taking LHP Pico Kohn deep in the 3rd inning...The 24-year-old was responsible for half of Brooklyn's hits on Friday, finished 2-for-3 at the dish with a solo shot...Bay played 10 games for Brooklyn down the stretch of last season and launched 1 home run while driving in four RBI and scoring five runs...Bay also caught the final out of Game 2 of the SAL Championship Series to clinch the title for Brooklyn...The Shattuck, OK native has always possessed some pop...A non-drafted free agent signee by the Mets after last summer's draft, Bay hammered 46 home runs during his final two collegiate years at Austin Peay.

HALL-MARK SEASON: Although he took a tough luck defeat to open the 2026 season, RHP Noah Hall looked sharp in his 2026 season debut...The former South Carolina Gamecock held Hudson Valley to just 2 runs over 4.2 frames of work...Over the last two Opening Day starts, Hall has combined to throw 9.2 innings, allowing just 6 hits, 3 runs, and 8 strikeouts...After being limited to just 13.0 innings in his first professional season in 2024, Hall had a major bounce back in 2025...With 7 strikeouts over 6.1 innings of 1-hit shutout ball on August 8 at Hudson Valley, Hall reached 100 K's for the season, becoming the 7th pitcher in franchise history to reach the plateau...In 2025, the Charlotte, N.C. native finished 2nd in the South Atlantic League in ERA (2.72) and batting average against (.200)...Hall ranked 5th in strikeouts (115), tied for 5th in double plays induced (9), 6th in innings pitched (112.2), 9th in WHIP (1.27), and tied for 10th in games started (21)...Hall is 4th on the Cyclones' all-time strikeout list (132) and is 6 behind LHP Felipe De La Cruz (133) for 3rd...His 115 K's in 2025 were the 3rd most in a single-season in franchise history and 1 behind De La Cruz (116) for 3rd...Hall is also 3rd all-time in games started (26)...His 112.2 innings last season were the 2nd most in a single campaign in Cyclones history...RHP Junior Santos (116.2) is 1st.

WELCOME TO NEW YORK!: In addition to a steady dose of returners, the Cyclones have plenty of new faces to kick-start the new year...Of note, 2025 Mets first-round selection INF Mitch Voit joins the squad, in addition to his draft-classmate, third-round pick, INF Antonio Jimenez ...Additionally, C Daiverson Gutiérrez projects to be a force in the middle of the lineup...Voit, Jimenez, and Gutiérrez rank as the 7th, 16th, and 25th prospects in the organization, respectively, according to MLB Pipeline...In all, the Cyclones have nine new players on their Opening Day roster.

VETERAN PRESENCE: Brooklyn's Opening Day roster featured no shortage of players with experience on Coney Island as well...All told, the Cyclones welcome back 20 returning players to Brooklyn...Notables include RHP Noah Hall, who finished second in the league in ERA last year, RHP Joel Díaz, who was also top-10 in the circuit in ERA, and 2023 Mets first-round draft pick Colin Houck.

HOT START: During Brooklyn's 2025 championship campaign, the Cyclones got out of the gate fast...Brooklyn was 15-7 in the month of April, which served as a launching pad for the 46-20 first-half record en route to clinching a playoff spot...The Cyclones were especially dominant in home games to begin last year's campaign, collecting an 8-3 record through their 11 April home games.

KING HENRÍ-QUEZ: Although he was just placed on the 7-day IL...OF Yonatan Henríquez was outstanding down the stretch for the Cyclones during their run to a championship last season...Henríquez joined Brooklyn on August 29th and hit the ground running...The outfielder picked up 4 hits and brought in 6 runs in Brooklyn's Game 1 win vs. Hub City on Sunday...His 6 RBI were the most by a Cyclone in any game since 2B Luke Ritter drove in 6 in a 13-1 win at Wilmington on June 20, 2021...In Minor League Baseball's Digital Era (2005-present), no Brooklyn player has registered more RBI in a postseason game...LF Lucas Duda held the previous mark of 4 in Game 1 of the New York-Penn League Playoffs at Staten Island on September 9, 2007.

PUT IT IN THE (HISTORY) BOOKS!: Last year's Cyclones squad set a new single-season franchise record for wins with 72...The 2022 club (70-54) is the only other team in Brooklyn history to register 70 or more wins...The Cyclones' 72 wins and .550 winning percentage were the franchise's best at the full-season level...The inaugural 2001 team holds the organizational highwater mark for winning percentage (.684).

NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: Manager Eduardo Núñez takes the reins as Brooklyn's manager for 2026, serving as the 16th skipper in franchise history...Núñez takes over after serving as Brooklyn's hitting coach in 2024 and bench coach for the 2025 championship-winning squad...The 40-year-old replaces Gilbert Gómez, who joined the Mets coaching staff as New York's first base coach for 2026...Nunez joined the Mets organization before the 2021 campaign, and previously held positions in the organization with St. Lucie and in both the Florida Complex League and Dominican Summer League.

SWIPER KEEP SWIPING: Brooklyn had a record-setting season on the basepaths in 2025...The Cyclones set a new franchise single-season record on July 9 vs. Wilmington when 2B A.J. Ewing stole the team's 182nd base of the campaign, surpassing the previous mark of 181 set by the 2024 squad...In 2025, Brooklyn nabbed 257 stolen bases, good for the 2nd most in the South Atlantic League, behind only Aberdeen (314)...Brooklyn had 2 players with 30-plus steals, 5 players with 20-plus steals, 8 players with 10 or more steals, and 14 players with 5 or more...The Cyclones' 7-6 win vs. Wilmington on April 29 saw them nab a franchise record 9 stolen bases, courtesy of 7 players...The mark topped a previous high of 8 on August 2, 2017, vs. Tri-City.

BROOKLYN TO THE BIGS: After 14 former Cyclones made their Major League debuts in 2025, 2 alumni have already accomplished the feat early in 2026...OF Carson Benge, who started last season with Brooklyn, started for the Mets in right field on Opening Day in Queens just 12 months later...Benge was a force to be reckoned with during his time in High-A, logging a near .900 OPS across his 60 games in the South Atlantic League ... Additionally, from last year's team, RHP Anthony Nunez, who was traded for OF Cedric Mullins at last year's deadline, made his debut with the Orioles on March 28th after making Baltimore's Opening Day roster...The righty tossed 2 shutout innings...In Brooklyn last season, Nunez pitched to a sub-1.00 ERA (0.63) across 10 games out of the bullpen...Last year's 14 debuts in a single season set a new single-season franchise record...RHP Dom Hamel (2022) debuted with the Mets in September of last season...RHP Brandon Sproat (2024) struck out 7, but suffered the loss in his debut for the New York Mets on Sunday in Cincinnati...RHP Jonah Tong (2024) made his debut and snatched his first career win on August 29 for the Mets vs. Miami...UTL Carlos Cortes (2018) with the Athletics, RHP Carson Seymour (2022) with the San Francisco Giants, OF Rhylan Thomas (2023) with the Seattle Mariners, RHP Mike Vasil (2022) with the Chicago White Sox, RHP Paul Gervase (2023) and OF Jake Mangum ('19, '21) with the Tampa Bay Rays, OF Kenedy Corona (2019) with the Houston Astros, and RHP Nolan McLean (2024), RHP Jonathan Pintaro (2024), C Hayden Senger ('18, '21), and RHP Blade Tidwell (2023) with the Mets are the others to debut this year.

THIS DATE IN CYCLONES HISTORY: On April 7, 2010, RHP Jenrry Mejia, a hurler with Brooklyn in 2008, impressed the Mets enough during Spring Training to break camp with the big league club...At just 20 years old, he became the youngest Met to make an Opening Day roster since RHP Dwight Gooden in 1984...In 2023, the Cyclones hosted the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, marking the earliest home opener by date in franchise history...Brooklyn erased a one-run deficit in the 9th and a two-run margin in the 10th to win it in the 11th on a bases-loaded walk to 1B Chase Estep, 9-8...It would be Brooklyn's longest game of the season at four hours and nine minutes.

AMAZIN' STARTS HERE: According to MLB Pipeline, the Cyclones hold 3 of the Mets' Top 30 prospects...Those are INF Mitch Voit (7), and INF Antonio Jimenez (16), and C Daiverson Gutiérrez (25)...All three are also considered Top 30 prospects according to Baseball America and SNY...BA has Voit at 8, Jimenez at 19, and Gutiérrez at 23, while SNY lists Voit at 10, Jimenez at 20, and Gutiérrez at 27.




South Atlantic League Stories from April 7, 2026


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