The Rockaway Wave
Originally published May 31, 2024
Most international prospects sign with an MLB organization when they are 16 or 17 years old. In the Mets’ most recent international signing class, no one was older than 17. Gilbert Gómez, now the manager of the Cyclones, signed with the Mets as a player when he was 16.
Gómez said signing older creates a lot of pressure. Usually, older players don’t get a lot of money when they sign, which means they have to substantially over-perform expectations to get attention.
“The older you go, the more is expected of you,” Gómez said. “… It’s hard, and it can be frustrating because you get out there and people don’t really see you, scouts don’t really watch you that much because you’re already older than the rest of the guys that they’re seeing.”
Douglas Orellana signed with the Mets when he was 19. He said it was hard being signed so much older than most players because he had to be that much better than those who are signed when they’re younger.
Even though he’s been playing baseball since he was seven years old, he said he wasn’t ready to be signed when he was first eligible.
“[I] wasn’t prepared physically and mentally,” Orellana said through Maria Bogaert, Brooklyn’s mental performance coach, who was translating. “[I] just didn’t have the resources like some of the other guys did.”
Cyclones Pitching Coach Dan McKinney echoed that it can be challenging for an older signee like Orellana.
“A lot of the kids get in orgs at a younger age, they get more advanced coaching exposure, resources, get to know the way of the org philosophy, and the development process just starts a little bit more quickly for those kids,” McKinney said. “When you’re a late bloomer, clock’s kind of ticking, more is expected out of you right away even if your actual experience in baseball maybe isn’t greater.”
Orellana, a right-handed pitcher from Venezuela, pitched in the Dominican Summer League after he signed in 2021 before coming stateside in 2022. He had success in rookie ball, throwing 36 and 1⁄3 innings with a 3.96 ERA, before finishing the year with Single-A St. Lucie.
He then spent all of 2023 at Single-A — also playing for Gómez and McKinney — and threw 89 and 1⁄3 innings with a 4.53 ERA and 112 strikeouts.
McKinney said Orellana had an ankle injury that set him back in the second half and caused some struggles, but finished strong and was the Florida State League pitcher of the month in September.
“I absolutely love that kid,” McKinney said. “We’ve seen a ton of growth from him, it’s been awesome. He has much better perspective now, knowing that he’s going to have struggles again, and I think he’s much better equipped to be able to handle that when it does happen.”
Orellana was promoted to High-A Brooklyn to begin 2024, and he’s been nothing short of outstanding.
Through nine games, Orellana has a 1.06 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. His WHIP is 1.06, his batting average against is .175 and his BB/9 is down over a full walk from what it was last season. Pretty much across the board, Orellana is posting career-bests.
“He’s having the best year of his career,” McKinney said. “It’s been a long process for him, coming from back to his days in the DSL. He’s just put in the work and slowly gotten better. He understands who he is as a pitcher now and knows what things he needs to focus on, what enables him to have success. He’s made a lot of strides mentally, he has grown and matured an enormous amount over the past few years. He’s definitely more skilled on the mound, but he’s also grown leaps and bounds mentally.”
He began the season in a piggyback role, being called on to throw bulk innings out of the bullpen, but shifted to the rotation after his first four appearances. Orellana said he prefers to start but doesn’t really feel the difference between the two roles.
In five starts, Orellana has thrown 20 and 2⁄3 innings with a 0.87 ERA. He’s the only pitcher with at least five starts in the entire South Atlantic League to have an ERA under one as a starter.
“[I’ve] been working on small details,” Orellana said through Bogaert. “[I] try to go back in [my] videos and look at the videos and just work on small stuff to be able to adjust.”
Orellana is a three-pitch pitcher, throwing a fastball, slider and curveball — the latter two being the ones he said he has the most confidence in right now. The slider is probably his best pitch, one that McKinney said works well against both lefties and righties.
Gómez said his secondary pitches have gotten much better, and the curveball-slider combo works well because they look the same coming out of his hand. McKinney said Orellana has made a lot of progress on the curveball specifically, after it didn’t have a high enough strike percentage to use it effectively last year.
His fastball has some ride and cut that Gómez said helps him miss bats, and he’s been much more in-zone with it than he has been in years past. McKinney the pitch sits around 92 mph and can touch 95. He said Orellana has a unique profile to his fastball that plays really well against left-handed hitters.
He’s always racked up a lot of strikeouts, something that McKinney has attributed to his ability to mix pitches effectively and stay unpredictable. He said Orellana has a knack for executing spin below the zone, and the fastball has been getting a lot of swings and misses up in the zone lately as well.
“[I] just try to focus on the weakness of the hitter,” Orellana said through Bogaert. “[I] just try to locate the pitches wherever the weakness of the hitter is.”
The Cyclones have had a lot of pitching talent come through Coney Island already this season. Brooklyn’s starting pitchers have the best ERA in the South Atlantic League by a wide margin. Top prospects Brandon Sproat, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong have all donned a Cyclones uniform and pitched well.
None of them lead the team in ERA (among pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched) — Orellana does.
“I’m really proud of the way that he has handled the promotion and the way that he’s going about his business,” Gómez said.
Jorge Eckardt Portfolio 