Yoenis Cespedes stepped into the box against Seth Lugo in the second inning of Thursday’s intrasquad game. Jeff McNeil was on third and Lugo was trying to keep him from scoring. Cespedes, though, didn’t care about Lugo’s plans. The Cuban slugger annihilated a baseball with such violent intensity that it was hard to believe he hasn’t played in a major-league game since July 2018.
He balanced that insane home-run swing with an unemphatic and rather determined walk back to the Mets dugout, clutching his bat and looking down, not bothering to run the bases. McNeil, meanwhile, sprinted home from third. To Cespedes, to his teammates and to his manager watching from the dugout, that home run was what they expected from the slugger. And, after watching that scene, it was as good an indication as any that Cespedes seems ready to face live pitching in the regular season.
The Mets are excited about Cespedes and his unparalleled, powerful swing. But, the team is still considering two questions as the 34-year-old continues ramping up from his double-heel surgery in 2018 and another ankle wound he sustained after a run-in with a wild boar last year.
“First, can he be baserunning with the exertion level and workload level to be able to play on an everyday basis when we do start up?” Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen said. “And then secondly, what is going to be his outfield availability?”
Cespedes is participating in the same running drills as his teammates, indicating he’s up to speed. Often, he’s the last player to walk off the field for the day, after completing another round of individual sprints with a Mets coaching staff member supervising nearby. On the other hand, besides one uneventful appearance in left field, Cespedes has barely participated in outfield drills.
“The defensive work is probably a little farther behind than his baserunning, but we’re excited about where he is at this point, and with two weeks to go we can start to dream a little bit,” Van Wagenen said.
Mets skipper Luis Rojas echoed his GM in that Cespedes still needs to work on his defense to be considered game-ready.
But, lucky for the Mets, Cespedes does not have to park himself in left field if he’s not yet ready to play in the outfield. The designated-hitter job clawed its way into the National League this year for the shortened 60-game season. If Cespedes’ bat is crushing baseballs, that’s really all the Mets need from him this year.
Cespedes is clearly motivated to return to the field, and at this point, it would be surprising if he sat out. The only thing the Mets need to consider is how to safely celebrate his home runs.
“That [home run] gave us an experience, as far as when that happened, because we all wanted to give him fists or high fives when he was coming into the dugout,” Rojas said of Cespedes’ two-run shot against Lugo. “I tried to stand where I’m going to stand during the exhibition games and the regular season here, so we’re working on that in each dugout. Him coming into the dugout, we were thinking of what to do. It was just six-feet-distanced fist bumps and high fives with him.”