WEST BELFAST-BORN PJ Conlon was named Mets Minor League Pitcher of the Year after a superb season with New York Mets feeder teams the Columbia Fireflies and the St Lucie Mets.
Left-arm pitcher Conlon, who was brought up in Rockville Street off the Falls Road, moved to Orange County, California with his family in 1996 just before his second birthday. He was signed by the New York Mets from the University of San Diego in the 2015 draft and has had a superb start to his pro career.
After starting out with the Brooklyn Cyclones at Short Season A level, he has quickly advanced through the Columbia Fireflies (A) and up to St Lucie Mets (Advanced A). In the 2015 season, he didn’t allow an ‘earned run’ in 17 relief appearances for Brooklyn and gave up just eight hits, walked two and struck out 25.
This season, Conlon had 112 strikeouts and 24 walks in 165.0 innings and became the first minor league pitcher in 11 years to pitch 10.0 innings when he used 97 pitches to do so on June 4 in a match against Hagerstown.
He didn’t allow a run over his final 20.2 innings of the regular season and was voted as having the best change-up in the South Atlantic League by Baseball America when turning out for the Fireflies: “Conlon was impressive every outing and he totally dominated the league,” said the team’s manager Jose Leger.
Conlon’s ‘earned run average’ wasn’t just the lowest among Mets minor leaguers, it was the best mark in all of Minor League Baseball. The lefty finished with a 12-2 record in 24 appearances (23 starts) and was honored at Citi Field in New York before the Mets hosted the Atlanta Braves on Monday night.
Should his form take him to the big leagues, he would be the 46th Irishman to wear a major league uniform, but the first in over 70 years. Of those, 35 played before 1900 and the last Irish-born player to appear was Joseph ‘the Fire’ Cleary, who made one appearance for the Washington Senators in 1945.
