Edgardo Alfonzo sat in his office ready to speak with the media in his first post game press conference as manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones. He took a deep breath then quickly looked around before clearing his throat to begin taking questions.
There were no opening statements from Alfonzo on this evening, maybe that’ll change as the season progresses. What there appeared to be however, was a sense of relief from the man in the manager’s chair with the cool nickname.
If the Cyclones had any opening day butterflies, Alfonzo is glad they’re now out of the way.
“First opening day in New York, they come to Brooklyn, and want to show what they got,” said Alfonzo after the Cyclones dropped their home opener 7-4 to the Staten Island Yankees at MCU Park in Coney Island.”Sometimes it doesn’t work that way, sometimes you have to slow down.”
“Fonzie” became a household name among Mets fans for eight of the 12 major league seasons Alfonzo played. He was a core member of the 1999 and 2000 Mets teams which played in the National League Championship series and the 2000 Subway Series against the Yankees.
The Cyclones, the Mets’ short-season Class-A team, are filled to the brim with potential that needs player development before taking the next steps in their journey to the majors. Who can turn into the next Michael Conforto or Lucas Duda? Players who, before making the big-league roster in Queens, spent part of their progression in Cyclone uniforms.
Alfonzo knows the importance of player development. His time as bench coach under his predecessor, the baseball lifer and well respected Tom Gamboa, certainly had to have helped prepare him to take on the manager’s job.
“I’m going to be everything, because we have guys who don’t really have experience playing the game. I may have to tell them three, four, five times the same thing and they might not get it and then maybe on number six they’ll get it. That’s the way it is, you have to be more patient with the guys. You try and tell them about playing the game besides the talent they have. It’s more about guiding those guys to be a ballplayer than to win games.”
Alfonzo, at second base or third base, was as cool as they came when it was time to play the field. His bat was consistently reliable and steady whenever his spot in the lineup was due up to hit.
The Mets benefited greatly from the patience and professionalism Alfonzo brought to the ballpark everyday as a player. The Cyclones are counting on that to continue as he begins his managerial career.
Extra Bases
The Cyclones, after having their season opener against the Yankees rained out in Staten Island and then losing their home opener to the same team now head out on the road for three games in Vermont before returning home to play Hudson Valley.