Cespedes is pronounced SES-peh-des. His nickname is "La Potencia," the Power.

Yoenis' great passion for the game was first instilled by his mother, Estela Milanes, a former star on the Cuban national softball team.

"My mother was my real baseball inspiration," Cespedes said. "She took me with her to every stadium. I started playing when I was 8 years old. My father (Cresencio Cespedes) played in the Cuban league."

When he was not playing or watching the game, he loved to go hunting or fishing.

"Playing in the majors was not my dream as a kid," Cespedes admits. "If I did not become a baseball player, I would have liked to have been in the army special troops, those that specialize in jumping out of planes."

Yoenis was only 11 years old when he shone so brightly on the baseball field that he was picked by the Escuela Superior de Atletas (Superior School for Athletes), a government program for about 800 kids in different sports.

"I was far away at school, and I only returned home for three out of 20 days," Cespedes said. "I studied in the morning and practiced in the afternoon. This went on until I was 17."

Cespedes is short, but strong. He has been one of the top players in Cuba's Serie Nacional since his rookie year in 2003-2004. That season, he hit .302/.382/.503 for Granma as an 18-year-old.

During the 2010-2011 season, Cespedes hit .333/.424/.667 with 49 walks (five intentional) and 40 strikeouts in 415 plate appearances over 90 games. He tied Jose Abreu for the Serie Nacional lead with 33 home runs during the 2010-2011 season, breaking Alfredo Despaigne's single-season home run record of 32, and led the league with 99 RBIs.

In 2009, Yoenis was a standout at the World Baseball Classic, when he hit .458/.480/1.000 with a pair of home runs, three triples, a double, one walk, and five strikeouts in 24 at-bats over six games.

Cespedes left Cuba with his mother, Estela, a former Cuban national softball team pitcher, along with his aunt and three relatives sometime last year and landed in the Dominican Republic. He was introduced to the mainstream media in a bizarre 20-minute video that showed off his physical prowess set to an eclectic soundtrack. One of the final scenes in the video featured Cespedes standing next to a roasted whole pig.

When news of Cespedes's defection spread, Owens and Farhan Zaidi, director of baseball operations, sold Oakland general manager Billy Beane on the idea of signing the outfielder. The club inked him to a four-year, $36 million deal in February 2012, and the rest is history.

"We did so much background homework on him and one of the biggest things that stood out was his character," Owens said. "I know he had many opportunities to leave Cuba before but he refused to leave without his mother. He understood that if he defected and if he had success that he expected to have, that it would make life very uncomfortable back in the homeland for her. He has loyalty and he thinks about things like that. That's a testament to who he is."

It was Estela, a star in her own right, who inspired Yoenis to play baseball. She started keeping his stats when he was a boy and still does. It has taken years, but now the mother and son can laugh about the time she hit Yoenis, then 9 years old, in the face with a curveball in his first and only attempt to be her personal catcher.

"My mother is extremely proud of me," Cespedes said. "She raised me and taught everything I know. She taught me to respect others and have others respect me. I am who I am because of her."

The changes and stresses that Cuban defectors have to go through and live with every day of their lives, including transitioning to what can be a shocking change in culture, living with incredible newfound wealth, dealing with the grind of U.S. professional baseball and the worries of safety of friends and family members often left behind in Cuba is beyond the scope of this story.

Scouts rely on their networks, try to find people who have been close to the player at some point and gather any bit of information through the resources they have to figure out everything they can about the player.

While Cespedes is estranged from his father, he is by all accounts very close with his mother, Estela Milanes Salazar. The two defected from Cuba together and are in the Dominican Republic with a handful of cousins. Cespedes' mother was an accomplished athlete herself, having pitched for the Cuban national softball team from 1988-2003, including an appearance on Cuba's 2000 Olympic team.

Cespedes also has a two-year-old son who is still in Cuba with his ex-wife.

Teams have consistently praised Cespedes' work ethic, character, and dedication, and several scouts said his maturity level to be able to handle the transition is well beyond where Aroldis Chapman was when he arrived from Cuba.  (Ben Badler-Baseball America-11/10/11)

Mercedes, president of the Born To Play Academy, said at a news conference in Santo Domingo that Cespedes had promised to pay 17 percent of his contract to the academy for representation, training and food while Cespedes and his family were staying in the Dominican Republic.

Besides the money owed to the academy, Mercedes said, Cespedes owes another 5 percent to Adam Katz of the Wasserman Group, the agency that represented Cespedes in negotiations with Oakland and other MLB teams.

Edgar Mercedes, who helped represent Cespedes when he landed his four-year, $36 million contract with the A's, was arrested in the Dominican Republic on charges of smuggling Cuban players into the country.

Cespedes established residency in the Dominican Republic and trained at Mercedes' Born to Play academy after defecting from Cuba last summer. He declined to comment on Mercedes' arrest through interpreter Ariel Prieto.

Yoenis has an insatiable work ethic. The Athletics knew about his skills, certainly, but they've been blown away by his baseball intelligence and attention to detail. Given all the distractions that come with the life adjustment taking place off the field, his on-field success would not be possible without those other traits.

As the 2012 season was coming to a close, Cespedes was feeling more at home than ever. Sporting his favorite "I play for the American League" light blue T-shirt with a green-and-yellow Phiten necklace dangling from his neck, the Oakland outfielder tears the plastic wrap off of his personalized bat, holds it out in front of him from the handle, and waves it at Brandon Moss.

The conversation, part English and part Spanish, between the teammates is their own version of "Spanglish," and it's complete with head nods, simulated swings and smiles.

"I don't really speak English, but I try," Cespedes, 26, said in Spanish. "I know some words and some phrases. I'm learning little by little, but the guys here are great. It's a challenge, but it's fun, like everything else here in the United States."

The expression "¿Qué hay de nuevo?," the Spanish version of "What's new?" is a phrase Cespedes knows well and it almost always elicits a chuckle because the answer is everything. The freedom, the language, the money, the happiness—and the loneliness—are all new experiences for Cespedes. He's also never had things at his disposal like brand new gloves, engraved bats, shiny shoes and high-tech undershirts—everything many big leaguers take for granted.

In his first year in the big leagues, Cespedes has already played more regular-season games with the A's than he's ever played in one season in Cuba, so the fatigue he's feeling now is foreign, too. The Cuban star is in uncharted territory, but that's really nothing new.

"How has my life changed? How has it not changed?" said Cespedes. "This is a country that is very different from where I come from. There are a lot of adjustments I've had to make to living here and I do that every day. This is the best baseball in the world. I played on a high level in Cuba, but nothing like this. You have to make and continue to make adjustments." (Jesse Sanchez-MLB.com-9/27/12)

Cespedes' interpreter, Ariel Prieto, who is also from Cuba, is the closest thing Cespedes had to family in Oakland in 2012. Prieto lives with Cespedes during the season and offered to let the outfielder stay at his home in Miami until he finds a place nearby.

"Everybody knows what his physical tools are, but for me, his mind is his biggest tool," Prieto said. "He's a survivor. He has a tough mind. He knows how good he can be and he believes in himself. He doesn't let anybody intimidate him and he doesn't intimidate himself with negativity. He's so positive and that's why he is where he is."

"Positive" is one way to describe Cespedes. "Confident" is another. He no longer admires his home runs from the batter's box or shows up opposing pitchers, but he still walks with a swagger.

Prieto, also a Cuban defector, who spent six years as a pitcher in the big leagues, meets with Cespedes every day to discuss the mental discipline necessary to succeed in the American game and the need for endurance.

“What I always say about Yoenis is how strong his mind is. He’s a guy who never surrenders, a guy who don’t get intimidated by nobody,” Prieto said.

Prieto helped the A's understand some of Cespedes's habits, while at the same time helping him cure some that were the most unhealthy. Like his favorite beverage: a glass of whole milk sweetened with six spoons of sugar. And his desire to consume little but red meat.

Yoenis occasionally smokes a cigarette.

Cespedes impressed A's manager Bob Melvin "He's pretty phenomenal. Number 1 is talent. Number 2 is, he’s a really, really tough kid. I think the ceiling for him is endless. It really is, he’s that good a talent.”

Not surprisingly, Cespedes says the best part of his new life is the freedom and the simple luxuries that come with living in the United States, things like a leisurely walk in a new city.

"When you play with the Cuban national team, you go from the hotel to the stadium and back and maybe if you are lucky, you get a day to go eat or buy something," Cespedes said. "You can't enjoy it. I don't miss that part."

During the 2012 season, Cespedes lived in a small house he shares with Prieto outside Oakland, a few blocks from San Francisco Bay. He stays up until five o'clock in the morning most nights, watching Spanish soap operas on his laptop and talking to relatives over Skype. He has a young son, Yoenis Jr., still in Cuba. And his mother, Estela Milanes, a softball pitcher who appeared in the 2000 Olympics for Cuba, lives in the Dominican Republic.

Cespedes is humble and rather serious about life. "Yoenis is a young man but he is still a man and his attitude is very mature," A's hitting coach Chili Davis said in October 2012. "He takes his job seriously. He takes his family seriously and he takes the relationship he builds with you very seriously. Trust is a big thing for him. If he doesn't trust you, you can't get close to him. But if he trusts you, he'll give you the world."

When Cespedes isn't video-chatting with his family, he's usually playing Temple Run or Fruit Ninja on his iPhone.

Yoenis has a few quirks. His daily ritual includes swigging down a glass of milk fortified with 10 sugar packets. "It's not milk-it's syrup," says Ariel Prieto, his interpreter and housemate in Oakland. "That's his power drink."

"Be more focused, more concentrated." This is what Estela Milanes often told her only son during the 2012 season, observing even from thousands of miles away that he was distracted, despite exceptional rookie numbers telling everyone else he was just fine.

Mother always knows best, and Yoenis Cespedes tried to take her advice to heart, as he always does. But pushing away these distractions while also adjusting to life in an A's uniform to play a game built on mental toughness wasn't easy, not when it was her he was worried about.

For more than a year, Milanes and 11 other family members were engaged in a lengthy struggle to emigrate from Cuba to the United States and join Cespedes, who defected from Cuba to the Dominican Republic in the summer of 2011 to seek an opportunity as a Major League Baseball player. He was in contact with his family maybe 10 times during the first four months of the 2012 season. At one point, they were off the map and out of contact for three or four days.

"I had no idea where my family was," Cespedes said through translator Ariel Prieto. "They just disappeared."

In October 2012, following an extensive stay in the Dominican Republic, they were captured in a raid and detained as illegal immigrants in the Turks and Caicos Islands, falling under suspicion of being the subject of a human trafficking ring, according to the Turks and Caicos Sun.

As of March 2013, they were in Miami, and they were all treated to a surprise visit by Cespedes, mere hours after safely arriving in the United States. Cespedes left the A's to welcome his family.

"No one knew I was coming," Cespedes said upon returning to the A's camp. "Everyone was sleeping, so I turned on all of the radios, all of the TVs. Nobody woke up, so I went upstairs and started knocking on all of the doors and screaming."

Even more screaming ensued when the surprise guest was revealed. There was hugging, there was crying. Pure joy filled this reunion of mother and son, separated for over a year. And the party, Cespedes says, lasted 12 hours, before he had to return to the airport for a one-way trip back to Phoenix.

"I'm very happy," said a noticeably relieved Cespedes, openly engaging with reporters in a way never seen before. "So much happiness."

Cespedes arranged to fly them out to Oakland for Opening Day. Finally, Milanes watched her son live out his dream in person, the dream she essentially created for him by raising him on a ball field.  (MLB.com -Jane Lee, March 14, 2013)

For 10 years, Estela Milanes was "the best lefty softball pitcher in all of Latin America," Cespedes proudly says of his mother. And he would attend each of her games, even if it meant escaping school early to make it by first pitch. She represented Cuba in the 2000 Summer Olympics, showcasing a precious arm that reached 80 miles per hour.

Imagine, then, her arm and Cespedes' bat coming together for a round of batting practice.

"No," Cespedes said, smiling. It never happened, not after she once surprised him with a curveball that hit his ear while the two were once playing catch.

"She's my second hitting coach," joked Cespedes. "She watched our games a lot (in 2012) and she would contact me by Skype and tell me what I was doing wrong."

In 2013, he displayed a handful of added weapons in tow: a clear mind and a full heart. An important face was still missing, though. Cespedes hasn't seen his 3-year-old son, Yoenis Jr., in two years, and he worked to bring him to the United States, even if only for one brief visit at a time

"Obviously we're extremely happy for him, and you think about what it would be like for you to be reunited with your family after so long," A's manager Bob Melvin said, "but I don't think we have that kind of perspective based on what he's been through. It's amazing."

Yoenis' father, Cresencio Céspedes, is a former Cuban League catcher who separated from his mother, Milanés, when Yoenis was one year old.

Cespedes was troubled by personal issues at the end of the 2012 season. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Cespedes was brought into a financial lawsuit stemming from a former agent's claim that he's owed money, and he subsequently encountered much worry over his family's safety in the Dominican Republic.

"It weighed on my mind sometimes, yes," Cespedes said. "I tried to be focused every single day and not let it be a problem and keep me from playing baseball hard. I'm thankful this was all possible because that was a distraction for me, but not too much. I tried to put that to the side and not take it with me to the field."

Yoenis' mother is now safe in the Turks and Caicos Islands, according to The Chronicle, and he hopes to soon have a visit from his 3-year-old son, Yoenis, Jr., thanks to new laws in Cuba that allow citizens who leave the island to return. They have not seen each other since Cespedes defected in 2011. (March 12, 2013)

Cespedes' walkup song is much more than a random song Cespedes enjoys. It represents something beyond baseball that many in the Latino community have personally faced or family and friends have faced: the immigrant journey to achieve the American Dream.

"Gente De Zona" can be translated to mean "People of the Community." In essence, the Cuban band’s name symbolizes the humble and adverse upbringing many Cubans face in their everyday lives especially little kids that dream of coming to America to play in front of thousands under bright lights and beautiful stadiums.

Not too long after the Mets acquired Cespedes late in the 2015 season, he was not hitting that well.

One day, a parakeet, mostly a kinda greenish bright yellow, kept flitting around the batting cage, even sticking around for part of the game. Well, Yoenis hit his first home run with the Mets that game, so Cespedes began wearing a neon green-tinged bright yellow left arm guard, to "honor" the parakeet.

CAR COLLECTION

Feb. 26, 2016: Cespedes rolled up to Mets spring camp in the usual way, music thumping from the custom speakers in his ride. This one was a baseball-themed Jeep Wrangler, worth $80,000 after the work he pumped into it. Previously, it was a lipstick-red Alfa Romeo, a satin-black Lamborghini, a Polaris Slingshot motorcycle and a Ford-F250 truck.

"Being in Cuba, I never thought I was going to be in the United States," Cespedes said through an interpreter, posing outside his Jeep for pictures. "After I got here, I saw the possibilities that I could have whatever I want, so I worked hard for it."

In Cuba, Cespedes says, he could never afford a car, so he rode a bike and walked. It was not until arriving in the United States in 2012 that Cespedes sought out Alex Vega of the Miami-based Auto Firm and bought his first vehicle, a Mercedes GL SUV.  "A soccer mom car," Vega said, laughing.

Cespedes found his car guy the usual way: through word of mouth in the clubhouse. A South Miami native, Vega began working in garages after graduating high school in 1992, catching his first break when a client showed his customized Bentley to NBA star Carlos Boozer. From there, Vega said, "it was one after another." Baseball became a breeding ground for sales; former Met Juan Uribe alone has customized 32 cars through Vega and his Avorza label.

"I grew up watching 'Starsky & Hutch,' 'Dukes of Hazzard,' 'The A-Team,' 'Knight Rider,'" Vega said. "All those cars, I would look at them and say, 'One day, I want to build cars like that that are going to be popular.'"

As Vega fulfilled that dream with athletes including Michael Jordan and Floyd Mayweather Jr., Cespedes grew into a star in his own right, making his first real splurge purchase on the Alfa Romeo. Next came the Lamborghini, then the Slingshot, then finally the Jeep, which Vega finished customizing as spring training began. Even he was taken aback when Cespedes asked him to gut the Lamborghini and rebuild it from scratch, considering the car's roughly $400,000 retail value.

"The thing is, a lot of these athletes, they can all afford the same car," Vega said. "So what do you do? You make it different. It's still a Lamborghini, but it's one of a kind."

In all, Cespedes' six-car collection is worth around $1 million. And it has inspired interest, if not outright competition in Mets camp. Jeurys Familia and Bartolo Colon have also worked with Vega in the past, albeit on less flashy vehicles. Matt Harvey, who already drives a Maserati, may be next.

"I think he's worked really hard for it," Vega said of Cespedes' collection. "A guy like him and a lot of these guys, they grow up not ever thinking they're going to have a car like that. To be able to have what you wan— we love rides, we love what we drive. It's big." (A DiComo - MLB.com - February 26, 2016)

It was not long after the Mets acquired Cespedes in the summer of 2015 that Noah Syndergaard was lying in bed, scrolling through his new teammate's Instagram account, when he came across a picture of his teammate with a horse. "That's another reason why this guy's so cool," Syndergaard recalled thinking at the time.

Then he mostly forgot about Cespedes' equine hobby—he owns two of the animals, Candy and (literally) a horse with no name—until the Yoenis began rolling into Mets camp in customized cars and bikes. Syndergaard saw the attention that Cespedes' automobile collection was receiving. He hatched a plan.  

So it came to be that Cespedes and Syndergaard clopped into Mets camp on March 1, 2016, on horseback, as part of a surprise SNY shoot on Mets photo day. Dressed in full cowboy gear—similar to how he looked while purchasing a blue-ribbon hog over the weekend—Cespedes trotted into the players' lot and posed for pictures. The two cantered around the Minor League complex for a bit, before heading over to the players' lot and offering rides to teammates. Even longtime PR man Jay Horwitz climbed atop one of the horses, nearly falling off it. "Overall, I think it went well," Syndergaard said. "I didn't get bucked off, so that was nice."

Though Syndergaard's father, Brad, trains horses outside Dallas, Syndergaard was never exposed to it much as a child. He estimated that he had ridden only about a half-dozen times, feeding fear that his 242 pounds would be a bit much for the horse to handle. But all ended well.

Explained Syndergaard: "We play a game for a living. It's supposed to be fun. We keep it light and relaxed. Spring Training into the season can be grueling. It's a grind. So it's always fun to keep things loose."  (DiComo - MLB.com - 3/1/16)

 Cespedes has an equine hobby. He owns two horses, Candy and a horse with no name (literally).

2016 Spring Training: Cespedes made new when he bought a pig for $7,000 at a county fair before sending it to the butcher's, creating what we can only assume is the next Cespedes Family BBQ.

 Cespedes  wants to play golf professionally after his baseball career is over. He has claimed that golfing helps his baseball swing, keeping his hands "inside" and that it reminds him to keep his eye on the ball.

"Once I'm done (playing baseball), I'm going to start taking lessons," Cespedes said earlier in 2016 spring training. ( Ryan Hatch / The Star-Ledger / March 21, 2016 )    

July 1, 2016: Cespedes hosted a youth golf clinic despite being, you know, a pro baseball player. It's not all that strange for Major League players to host clinics and camps to teach kids baseball skills and fundamentals. It is about 800,000 times stranger for a player to teach a sport that they don't play professionally. Then again, Yoenis Cespedes is unlike any other player.

The outfielder with a fleet of souped-up cars is also a savant on the golf course. An amazing athlete, Cespedes is already shooting between the low-70s and 80s within two years of picking up the game. So when he teamed with the Queens City Parks foundation and headed out to a public park to teach that other game of hitting things with sticks to some youngsters, he knew what he was talking about.

Cespedes said, "It's not about baseball or golf. It's about these children, about helping them better themselves as athletes. About picking a sport and continuing with that." 

"I don't know if I'll get there, but I know that after I finish playing baseball, I want to play golf professionally, so we'll see how far I get." (Michael Clair - MLB.com - July 1, 2016)

Cespedes starred for the Cuban national team that placed sixth in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. That team also featured future Major Leaguers Aroldis Chapman, Leonys Martin and Hector Olivera.

2016 Season : After surprising the baseball world by returning to the Mets over the winter, Yoenis Cespedes became the main attraction right from the get go. Cespedes was the center of attention at spring training, turning heads with his fancy car collection, choice to buy a prize winning hog from a county fair, and riding into camp one day on horseback with Noah Syndergaard.

Once the regular season started, however, Cespedes was all business. Cespedes carried the Mets' offense in the first half, easily getting voted into the National League's starting lineup for the All Star Game. Things took a turn for the worse for Cespedes on July 8th, when he injured his quad trying to catch a fly ball in center field.

Yoenis had to miss the final two games of the first half and the All Star Game to try and rest the injury, but he wasn't ready to go when the second half started. Rather than risk going without their star slugger with a sputtering offense, the Mets and Cespedes tried to nurse him through the injury. That predictably didn't work, with Cespedes eventually landing on the disabled list in early August.

The Mets' offense completely fell apart without Cespedes and the team fell below .500 without their star hitter. Cespedes returned on August 19th and was red hot, helping to power the Mets on a 27-13 run that would pave the way for the team's second straight playoff appearance. While Cespedes delivered big hits frequently at the beginning of September, he hit a rough patch that lasted the rest of the season. Those struggles carried over to the Wild Card game, when Cespedes went 0 for 4 and struck out twice in the Mets' season ending defeat.

Despite the rough ending, many Mets' fans appreciate the fact that they wouldn't have come close to the playoffs without Cespedes' contributions.   (Mike Phillips - October 22, 2016)

Yoenis went hunting for the first time during the offseason before 2017 spring camps opened. He even took his wife with him.

Cespedes also enjoys watching golf on TV. But the only time he played the game may have been with 15 -- Kevin Millar -- on a day Yoenis called in sick. 

During a March video segment with ESPN, he lifted 990 pounds while using a Kaatsu band, a device that moderates blood flow during exercise. In the video, Cespedes attacks a massive stack of weights with encouragement from Mets strength and conditioning coordinator Mike Barwis, who pumps him up with the exhortation “Come on, Vin Diesel’’ before his first rep.

July 21, 2017: Upon re-signing with the Mets last offseason 2016, Yoenis Cespedes spent much of his press conference waxing poetic about New York. Cespedes fawned over the five boroughs, expressing his love for the Mets and their fans. When a newspaper report brought those allegiances in question, Cespedes forcefully reaffirmed them, praising New York, the Mets and manager Terry Collins.

"This is my home," Cespedes said through an interpreter following the Mets' 7-5 win over the A's. "This is my team. I love those fans. I can't say that enough that this is my home."

The San Francisco Chronicle had quoted Cespedes as saying he would like to finish his Major League career with the A's, the organization that brought him to the United States from Cuba in 2012. While Cespedes did not retract that notion, saying "it would be nice" if he finished his playing days in Oakland, he called the article a "misrepresentation" of his comments and "a little bit of an error" on the author's part. Mostly, Cespedes chafed over a portion of the story in which he called Oakland's Bob Melvin "the best manager" for whom he has played -- a statement that some interpreted as a condemnation of his current boss, Collins.

"That does not take away from my relationship with Terry," Cespedes clarified. "That does not mean that I do not have a good relationship with Terry, that we don't get along well, that I don't respect him. Like I said when I first got here, this is my home. This is my team. The way everyone greeted me here, the fans -- nothing has changed that. This is my home."

Asked about Cespedes' comments following Friday's game, Collins said he was hearing them for the first time.

"Bob's a great manager," Collins quipped. "I don't blame him." With that, Collins and Cespedes did their best to deflect an article that rapidly spiraled into a social media firestorm. Some Mets fans, restless with Cespedes' .204 July batting average and frequent lower body injuries, used the Chronicle story as a platform to question his commitment to the organization. Overall in his age -31 this season, Cespedes is batting .282 with nine home runs in 49 games. He missed six weeks earlier this year due to quad and hamstring injuries.

Yet few doubted Cespedes' love of New York when he inked a four-year, $110 million contract in November 2016, demanding a full no-trade clause. After signing that deal, Cespedes said: "God willing, I will finish my career with this team." (A Dicomo - MLB.com - July 22, 2017)

2018 Changes: Following two consecutive seasons defined by leg injuries, Cespedes knew he needed to make a change. But he perhaps did not realize how deep the problem ran until he stepped into a yoga system for the first time this winter. That day, Cespedes could not even finish the class.

"For a person who is not flexible, it is really tough doing yoga," he said through an interpreter.

Over time, Cespedes improved, though he still considers himself a beginner. He plans to continue doing yoga this spring; it's part of a three-pronged plan for Cespedes to avoid the types of injuries that have sidelined him all too often the past two seasons and throughout his career.

"The yoga has been working for me," Cespedes said. "The last couple seasons, when I showed up down here, my lower back was very tight, and I haven't felt that yet. … My muscles are more flexible right now. When I used to work out with heavy weightlifting, I was strong, but I wasn't flexible. Right now, I am flexible because of the yoga."

Feb 15, 2019: Yoenis Cespedes does not know if it will be in July, or August, or September. But he does firmly believe that at some point this season, he will return to uniform with the Mets. In the interim, Cespedes' life has become a slog of daily workouts as he tries to ramp back into game shape. Almost four months removed from the second of two surgeries to remove calcification and bone spurs from both heels, Cespedes expects to begin baseball activities next week. But he doesn't know when doctors will clear him to begin hitting, shagging fly balls or, most importantly, running. 

"It's been frustrating for me so far because I love baseball, and I've been out of the game now for a few months," Cespedes said through an interpreter, making his first public comments since September. "I don't really know what to do with myself. I'm pretty bored. I want to start with the team, but I just can't right now at the moment."

The truth is that no one -- not the Mets, not their doctors, nor their trainers, their coaches or anyone else -- knows when Cespedes can return. When he last took the field on July 20, Cespedes was attempting to play through the heel, hip, hamstring and quad injuries that have dogged him throughout his Mets career. Subsequent examination revealed that his heels were the root of his medical issues; fix them, doctors said, and he should be able to return to 100 percent.

So Cespedes underwent twin surgeries in August and October, 2018 giving himself an eight- to 10-month timeframe to return. That was a best-case scenario; more recently, those close to Cespedes have pegged the All-Star break as his best-case return date. His surgeries have little precedent among Major League players other than Troy Tulowitzki, who underwent similar operations early last year and is still trying to make it back to the field.

"I do feel a lot better," Cespedes said. "I can't even tell you at the moment that I'm at 50 percent, but when I used to wake up, I would struggle walking. Now, even at this stage of the rehab, I can definitely walk without any pain." 

The most significant test for Cespedes will be running, which he says he can't attempt until doctors clear it -- and that may not occur for several more weeks or even months. So while the Mets are hopeful to receive meaningful contributions from Cespedes in 2019, they're trying to keep their expectations low. (A DiComo - MLB.com - Feb 15, 2019)

Dec 9, 2019: By the time former Mets outfielder Endy Chavez removed the video from Instagram last month, it had circulated far and wide enough for those with a vested interest in Yoenis Céspedes’ progress to see. There was Céspedes, taking his hacks on a back field in Port St. Lucie, Fla. There was Céspedes, providing Mets fans with the first public evidence that his recovery from multiple heel surgeries is not completely stalled.

At the Winter Meetings, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen revealed that Céspedes has, in fact, done more than just hit. He also recently began a throwing program and, most important, a running program, with an eye toward returning at some point in 2020. It’s just the last part that Van Wagenen cannot guarantee.

“We’ll have to see how that plays out,” Van Wagenen said, talking more openly about Céspedes than he did last month. “His activity level has increased, which is encouraging.”

With three and a half months until Opening Day, the Mets’ general attitude toward Céspedes appears to be “wait and see.” No one in the front office is relying on Céspedes, who last played in July 2018. The Mets are covered in the outfield with Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Jake Marisnick and J.D. Davis, meaning any production from Céspedes -- whether he returns in April or September -- would be a bonus.

Although Céspedes’ surgeries haven’t completely hamstrung the Mets thanks to an insurance policy, they have nonetheless affected the team’s roster composition. Officials continue to count Céspedes’ contract as part of their payroll, both for practical and luxury-tax reasons, meaning every dollar they spend on him is a dollar they don’t seem likely to reinvest elsewhere.

Chavez’s video, at least, provided the first tangible evidence that the Mets might see some return on that investment.

“We have to be smart and not assume anything from anyone and try to create talent on our roster and try to create impact,” Van Wagenen said. “If he’s at his best, he’s a high-impact performer. We’ll have to see how that plays out.” (A DiComo - MLB.com - Dec 9, 2019)

Dec 13, 2019: The Mets reached an agreement to significantly reduce the remaining value of Yoenis Céspedes' contract, according to multiple sources, as part of a settlement stemming from his ranch accident earlier this year.

The Mets never said publicly if they believed Céspedes had violated terms of his contract, which would have given them license to attempt to void it. An industry source confirmed Friday that the restructuring comes as a result of the nature of his injury. That is why Céspedes agreed to accept a salary reduction.

The settlement, however, has no effect on Céspedes' employment. He remains under contract with the Mets for one more season, and both he and the team are hopeful that he can return to active duty in 2020. Recently, Céspedes began hitting, throwing and running at the team's Spring Training complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

"If he's at his best, he's a high-impact performer," Van Wagenen said this week at the Winter Meetings in San Diego. "We'll have to see how that plays out." (A DiComo - MLB.com - Dec 13, 2019)

Jan 3, 2020: What caused the "violent fall" that left Yoenis Céspedes with multiple right ankle fractures at his ranch last year, costing him all of the 2019 season and a big chunk of his ‘20 salary? A run-in with a wild boar, MLB.com confirmed. The story was reported by the New York Post.

The Mets outfielder was injured when a boar was removed from a trap at his ranch in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and "either charged toward Céspedes or startled him," leading to him stepping into a hole and fracturing his ankle.

Céspedes immediately informed the Mets of the injury and how it happened, according to the Post. Mets officials and Céspedes' representatives, who visited the ranch the next day, and MLB Commissioner's Office and Players Association officials, who visited at a later date, agreed on Céspedes' version of the events -- that he was avoiding a wild boar.

At the time he fractured his ankle, Céspedes was already recovering from surgeries to remove calcifications and bone spurs in both heels, which had sidelined him since July 20, 2018, the last time he took the field for the Mets.

At the time, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen didn't comment on exactly how Céspedes had fractured his ankle, beyond saying it was a violent fall and Céspedes had twisted his ankle in the hole.

The incident led the Mets to restructure Céspedes' contract for the 2020 season. Instead of the original $29.5 million he was slated to make in the final year of his four-year, $110 million deal with New York, he's only guaranteed $6 million, which would increase to $11 million if he makes the Opening Day roster or a prorated version of that amount if he makes it back to the Major League club later in the season. (D Adler - MLB.com - Jan 3, 2020)

Feb 17, 2020: Yoenis Céspedes emerged from the Mets clubhouse to participate in stretches with the team. Fifteen minutes later, he ducked behind the batting cage alone, only to resurface on a back field later in the morning. Céspedes signed autographs and posed for selfies for a long while, then took live batting practice against pitcher Michael Wacha. On one of his first swings, he lost his grip on his bat, launching it over the third-base dugout. On another, he pulled a would-be home run just foul. Those snapshots provided the only real insights into Céspedes’ day. Asked to speak publicly Monday for the first time in roughly a year, Céspedes responded, “No.”

“Not today, not tomorrow, not at all this year,” he said.

Asked why not, Céspedes responded: “I don’t want to.”

Then he splashed some cologne on top of his baseball uniform, and walked away.

If Céspedes holds to that statement, the world may never know how he feels about his wild boar accident and restructured contract, both of which occurred after he last spoke publicly. Eventually, fans will get a better gauge on his health, depending on whether he can participate in games. For now, the Mets also aren’t saying, outside of noting that Céspedes has been a limited participant in workouts.

“Right now, he’s in a progression, but he’s able to participate in some of the activities that we have,” manager Luis Rojas said.

The question is what Céspedes will be able to do on Day 2 and Day 3, and so on and so forth. The Mets have not revealed whether Céspedes will be ready to participate when Grapefruit League games begin this weekend. They certainly aren’t saying whether they expect him to be ready for Opening Day.

Céspedes has not played since July 20, 2018. After that game, he revealed he needed multiple surgeries to remove calcification from both of his heels. During his recovery, Céspedes fractured his ankle at his Florida ranch; sources later confirmed that the accident stemmed from an encounter with a wild boar. To avoid a grievance, Céspedes agreed to cut his base salary from $29.5 million to a reported $6 million, plus heavy incentives that could bring the value back up to $20 million.

He is not willing to talk about any of that, nor is he willing to discuss how he is feeling, what his expectations are for 2020, or anything else relevant at the dawn of camp.

“His mindset is really to go into the progression, to get into the feel of doing the activity out there,” Rojas said. “He claims, ‘It’s almost been like two years since I’ve seen pitchers.’ But he was ticking the ball. He was on time. That’s not easy to do. So he’s happy that he’s joining the guys, he’s joining the team and he’s doing the activities. I think he felt good about his timing today and how some things played out during the workout.”

On the first day of full-squad workouts, Céspedes and reliever Dellin Betances were the only players limited. The other 61 Mets in camp, including infielder Jed Lowrie, participated fully.

For Céspedes, being limited means spending time during the day working with the Mets’ performance staff, which aids in physical therapy and rehab. Otherwise, he can participate in most activities; Rojas noted in particularly that Céspedes performed well in running drills. During regular batting practice, he hit multiple home runs.

“We’re happy he went through the day today,” Rojas said. “It’s a big day for him. He joined the guys and that’s where our focus is going to be with him -- that he’s going through the day and he’s being able to progress into playing at some point. We don’t have a timeline, but we’re happy that he did some activity with the rest of his teammates today. That’s our focus right now.” (A DiComom - MLB.com - Feb 17, 2020)

March 4, 2020: When Yoenis Céspedes defected from Cuba in 2011, his half-brother, Yoelkis, was 13 years old. Yoenis was raised by his mother, Estela Milanés, who traveled from Cuba with him. Yoelkis was raised by his father, Cresencio Céspedes, who stayed behind. Despite their different upbringings and 12-year age difference, the brothers spent plenty of time together.

That changed when Yoenis Céspedes established residency outside Cuba to begin an American baseball career. Legally unable to return home, Céspedes went eight years without seeing his brother and five years without talking to him. It was not until Yoelkis joined the Cuban national team that the younger Céspedes received his first cell phone, using it to call and video chat his brother a couple times per month.

“It was really difficult,” Yoenis Céspedes said this week, speaking through an interpreter in his first public comments about his brother’s impending free agency. “It wasn’t just not being able to talk to him, but I wasn’t able to talk to my father, and also another sister that I have, and also other family members that I still had in Cuba.”

Last year, Céspedes finally received clearance to visit Cuba, where he reunited with his brother. Their relationship has since blossomed. Defecting while participating in the Can-Am League in New York last June, Yoelkis Céspedes subsequently traveled to the Bahamas, where he worked out with his brother while waiting for Major League Baseball to declare him a free agent. According to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez, that will happen on March 18. When he is eligible to sign, Yoelkis, who is now 22 years old, will hold showcases for all 30 teams in Arizona and Florida. His brother plans to attend the latter showcase.

“I think I’m even more excited for him than I was when I first signed,” said Yoenis, who inked a four-year, $36 million contract with the A’s when he was 26. “I think at the age he is right now, and the resources, the conditions that he has to be able to play -- I think they’re much better than what I had when I first signed. So I’m really excited.”

This offseason, Céspedes traveled multiple times to the Bahamas to see his brother, usually for about a week at a time. At first, the elder Céspedes could only watch, as he recovered from multiple heel surgeries and a fractured right ankle. Eventually, he joined in the exercises, teaching his younger brother how to become more of a home-run threat. Playing for Cuba in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, Yoelkis hit .250 with a double.

“When he first got here, he was a four-tool player,” Céspedes said. “He could hit for average, he could do it all, but he just didn’t have the power at that point. But once he started working with me -- I’ve been working with him since October -- he [developed] the power. So for me, he’s a five-tool player.”

Yoenis recently bought Yoelkis a home, above a five-minute drive from “La Potencia” ranch on Florida’s Treasure Coast. He describes his brother as “a good kid, really calm, doesn’t go out to parties, doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke.” When they are together, Yoenis said, Yoelkis likes to help with farm work and play dominoes.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations about not just about baseball, but also about life,” Céspedes said. “The lifestyle that we come from [in] Cuba, it’s a different lifestyle completely. But we have spoken a lot about it, and up until now, it’s been good.”

What the future holds for the Céspedes brothers is not entirely clear. Yoenis continues to work closely with the Mets’ health and performance staff in Port St. Lucie, Fla., with the goal of making the Mets’ Opening Day roster. Since joining the Mets at the 2015 Trade Deadline, Céspedes has appeared in 308 games, batting .282 with 74 homers and an .890 OPS. But he has not played in 19 months. As for Yoelkis, the showcases in Florida and Arizona will determine which teams bid on him -- and how much they bid. Yoenis has spent much of his recent time with Yoelkis, giving his younger brother advice on life in the big leagues.

“When he does get here, he may not start off in the Major Leagues,” Céspedes said. “So [he needs] to just work and play hard in whatever league they put him in, so he can prove he is a Major League player.” (A DiComo - MLB.com - March 4, 2020)

Aug 2-Oct 28, 2020: Cespedes was on the restricted list.

Yoenis has elected not to play the rest of the 2020 season due to COVID-19-related concerns, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said. The announcement came hours after Céspedes, according to Van Wagenen, left his hotel room in Atlanta without telling team officials.

The Mets initially released a statement earlier saying that Céspedes was missing and unresponsive to their communications.  Van Wagenen later clarified that the Mets had no inkling of Céspedes’ whereabouts until his agent called that afternoon informing them of his decision not to play. Before learning of that choice, the Mets sent a security guard to investigate Céspedes’ hotel room, which was empty of both his person and belongings. Only later did Céspedes’ agent call to break the news.

“We support everybody’s, and every player’s, right to make this type of decision,” Van Wagenen said. “This is a challenging time for everyone. And so we will support him in that decision. It was surprising, without question. At the same point, we have to go forward and we have to not allow anything to keep us from going forward and attempting to win every game, and not having distractions from it.”

Céspedes, whose pro-rated base salary was worth about $4.07 million over a 60-game season, will forgo the rest of the y owed to him on what was once a four-year, $110 million contract. The move will almost certainly end his time in the Mets organization, though Van Wagenen said he hopes to keep communication lines open with Céspedes while he is still technically under contract.  (DiComo - mlb.com - 8/2/2020)

2020 Season: 2020 Stats: 8 Games, 31 At Bats, .235 Batting Average, 5 Hits, 1 Double, 2 Home Runs, 4 RBI’s, 3 Runs Scored, .622 OPS, -0.1 WAR

The coronavirus pandemic delayed the season and provided the Mets an opportunity to get Yoenis Cespedes back into their lineup. Cespedes arrived at Summer Camp in good shape and was able to crack the Opening Day lineup as the designated hitter. That game saw Cespedes deliver a dramatic game-winning home run to help the Mets win 1-0, but that would be the highlight of his season. Cespedes’ bat looked slow as he struggled to shake off the rust of a nearly two-year layoff and he also bristled at the idea that the Mets wouldn’t play him in the outfield.

The Mets sat Cespedes twice in the first ten days of the season, leading to concerns over his playing time, which would impact his ability to hit the incentives in his restructured contract. Cespedes ultimately decided to opt-out of the season in Atlanta without notifying team officials prior to a Sunday game, leading to one final moment of infamy for his Mets’ tenure.

Cespedes looked pretty washed up when he did play and left the team after ten days. The grade is pretty self-explanatory.

Contract Status: Free Agent

Cespedes’ four-year, $110 million deal is finally up after this season and it can’t come a moment sooner for the Mets. There is no chance they pursue a third contract with Cespedes. He will have to latch on somewhere else to try and revive his major league career.  (Mike Phillips - October 20, 2020)

 Oct. 2022: But maybe Cespedes is not done with baseball after all. The former Oakland A’s outfielder is attempting a comeback, playing with the Aguilas Cibaenas in the Dominican Winter League as he looks to return to the game.

The odds would seemingly be stacked against him. Cespedes recently turned 37 years old and has not appeared in over 80 games since 2017. It is difficult to imagine that many teams would be lined up to take on an older, injury prone player with a questionable attitude such as Cespedes.

But someone apparently forgot to tell Cespedes that he is done. He has already belted two doubles and a homer in his 20 plate appearances, striking out just three times. It is a very small sample size, but after all of this time off, Cespedes has already performed better than anyone could have imagined.

It remains to be seen if he can continue this strong start. More major league caliber players are going to start trickling into the league as the season progresses, especially come November and December. Once that happens, his hot start could be a distant memory.

And yet, it is possible that does not happen. Maybe Cespedes can turn back the clock, those years away from the game allowing him to be healthy once again. And maybe, just maybe, he performs well enough in the Dominican that he can get another chance somewhere.  (David Hill - Oct. 23, 2022)

Cespedes committed to play for Cuba in the 2023 WBC.



TRANSACTIONS

February 13, 2012: Cespedes agreed to a four-year, $36 million deal with the Oakland A's.

Yoenis will receive $6.5 million in his first year (2012), $8.5 million in his second year (2013), and $10.5 million in each of the last two years of the deal (2014 and 2015).

And it is in Cespedes' contract that, at the end of the contract, the team could not be reimbursed with a June Amateur Draft pick, if Yoenis chose free agency. Very unusual clause in his pact.

July 31, 2014: The Red Sox sent LHP Jon Lester, OF Jonny Gomes, and cash to the A's; acquiring Cespedes and Oakland's second pick in the competitive balance compensation B round in the 2015 Draft.

December 11, 2014: The Tigers sent Rick Porcello to the Red Sox; acquiring Cespedes, RHP Alex Wilson, and LHP Gabe Speier.

July 31, 2015: The Tigers sent Cespedes to the Mets for RHP Luis Cessa and RHP Michael Fulmer.

September 8, 2015: The Mets no longer need to negotiate with Cespedes during a pennant race or risk losing him forever. The team announced that it and Roc Nation Sports negotiated an amendment into Cespedes' contract, allowing the Mets to pursue him for the entirety of the offseason's free-agent period.

Under their old arrangement, the Mets could negotiate with Cespedes for only five days following the conclusion of the World Series. After that point, Cespedes's unique contract language would have made the Mets ineligible to re-sign him until May 15, making his return to New York a near-impossibility.

The new language still forces the Mets to release Cespedes after the season, despite his lack of six years' service time—the usual benchmark for an unrestricted free agent. But it makes Cespedes a normal free agent in every other way, able to negotiate with all 30 teams throughout the winter. Both Major League Baseball and its Players' Association signed off on the amendment, which still prevents the Mets from extending Cespedes a one-year qualifying offer and acquiring a draft pick if he rejects it.

Before the Nov.-Dec. 2015 Hot Stove shopping season, Cespedes’ representatives at the Creative Artists Agency and Roc Nation distributed a coffee table-type book to a select list of teams. The book, titled “52 Reviews” (in honor of Cespedes’ jersey number), has a black-and-white cloth cover, runs about 100 pages and features laudatory comments and testimonials from managers, coaches, players, front office executives and members of the media.

In a bow to technology, the book also has a video player embedded inside the front cover. Executives who push the “play” button are treated to an array of Yoenis Cespedes home runs, jaw-dropping throws and other highlights set to music. 

“It’s beautifully done,” one executive said. “I don’t know where to start to guess at the expense involved with this. My hunch is, 5 percent of whatever (Cespedes) is going to earn is significantly more than the investment in the book.” (Jerry Crasnick - Baseball America - 12/11/2015)

January 23, 2016: Cespedes signed a three-year, $75 million contract with the Mets, which includes an opt-out clause after the 2016 season. The deal allows Yoenis to hit the free-agent market again after 2016, when he could be the top position player available.

He will receive $27.5 million in 2016 if he opts out of his contract. And he has a full no-trade clause.

Nov 5, 2016: Cespedes elected free agency. 

November 29, 2016: Yoenis signed a four-year, $110 million deal to come back to the Mets.

Dec 13, 2019:  The Mets and Yoenis reached an agreement to significantly reduce the remaining value of  Céspedes' contract, as part of a settlement stemming from his ranch accident earlier this year. The Mets had been recouping a portion of Céspedes' contract via an insurance policy.

Jan 3, 2020: The incident led the Mets to restructure Céspedes' contract for the 2020 season. Instead of the original $29.5 million he was slated to make in the final year of his four-year, $110 million deal with New York, he's only guaranteed $6 million, which would increase to $11 million if he makes the Opening Day roster or a prorated version of that amount if he makes it back to the Major League club later in the season, plus heavy incentives that could bring the value back up to $20 million. . (D Adler - MLB.com - Jan 3, 2020)

Most scouts grade Cespedes at 70 for his power on the 20-80 scouting scale. He takes a big swing. But he also has excellent bat speed and has repeatedly shown the ability to smash a fastball, so there isn't much doubt about his ability to handle premium velocity.

"He's got a very balanced swing," said a Latin American director. "His lower half is very balanced. He doesn't load very much but he's strong and his hands are pretty quick. There weren't any of those crazy types of swings where the guy's just trying to hit the ball out of the park."

He has an aggressive swing, but is not out of control. He's able to get the barrel out front because he has enough bat speed regardless of what some perceive as a loop in his swing.

"It's not that he really has length to his swing," said another Latin American director, "but what happens is he'll get out a bit on his stride, he'll bring his head forward and won't separate. Then because he's so power-conscious, instead of staying inside the ball his hands will shoot out from him, but that's only once in a while, and that happens to everyone."

HOME RUN DERBIES

In 2013, Cespedes put on a show for the sold-out Citi Field crowd at the Home Run Derby, banging out 17 home runs in the first round and 6 in the second. He capped his night with a final-round flourish of nine home runs to edge Bryce Harper and become the first non-All-Star to win the event.

He was the first winner of the contest who had not been selected to that year's All-Star game.

July 14, 2014: Cespedes won his second consecutive All-Star Home run derby. Only he and Ken Griffey Jr. (1998 and 1999) have accomplished that feat.

2014 Spring Training: Cespedes entered camp with a shorter, compact swing, and he was hoping for more contact after an inconsistent 2013 season. It's yielded very little, though.

September 27, 2014: Cespedes drove in his 100th run in a 10-4 win over the Yankees, reaching the century mark in RBIs for the first time in his three-year career.

"It's something very important for my career, and it's something very special to me to be able to get it in my third year in the league," said Cespedes, who is just one of 12 players to drive in 100 runs this season. "To be a member of that group, is something pretty important to me and pretty special."  (Steven Petrella - MLB.com - 9/27/2014)

Yoenishas an all-fields approach to hitting. "He can use the whole field," Tigers president/general manager Dave Dombrowski said in February 2015. "When he was a youngster and we saw him, he would drive that ball to right field and right-center. I haven't been around him quite as much, of course, over the last few years."

Manager Brad Ausmus has an easy way to foster that. "Put him in the same hitting group as Miggy," Ausmus said, "and let him watch the best hitter in the game do it on a daily basis."

Cespedes said he's not trying to hit the ball to a particular place so much as focus on making contact. He is, however, looking forward to hitting with Cabrera."It's going to help a lot," Cespedes said.(Beck – mlb.com – 3/2/15)

August 3, 2015: Cespedes  tied the Mets franchise record with three doubles.

What so many underestimated was Cespedes' ability to adjust. Working with hitting coach Kevin Long in the spring of 2016, he set a goal to curb his aggression and shrink his personal strike zone. The Cuban strike zone, he told Long, can be four to five baseballs wider on each side of the plate, breeding a culture of free swingers. Though most of the underlying statistical changes are small, Cespedes is swinging at balls outside of the zone slightly less often, hitting those inside of it harder and lifting them into the air more often. Most importantly, he is walking nearly twice as frequently as ever before, forcing pitchers to challenge him or lose him.

"You don't usually see someone at this age making adjustments," said Cespedes, now 30. "However, when you meet someone in this league that's 29 or 30, they've probably also been playing longer than the five years that I have. So I think if they feel like they have to make adjustments, they probably make them earlier in life." (DiComo - MLB.com - 3/26/16)

It was 8:34 on a Sunday morning in late March of Spring Training 2017, Florida's coastal air still refrigerated, when Yoenis Cespedes followed a narrow corridor out of the Mets' clubhouse for a cage session. He grabbed a 42-ounce bat, added a weighted donut to it and used it like to pendulum to stretch his back and shoulders.

As assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler fed him baseballs on a tee, Cespedes moved at quarter-speed, lofting each of them to the upper-right corner of the cage's netting. He stepped away, dropping the donut with a clank, then started swinging the 2 1/2-pound bat with only his right arm. His left arm. Both. His motion remained rhythmic. Quietly, the cage's netting swished as each ball met it.

By this point, hitting coach Kevin Long had finished tutoring one of the Mets' younger hitters in an adjacent cage. Long turned and watched in silence as Cespedes placed a shorter tee next to the larger one, alternating swings at different eye levels

"Watch your back foot," Roessler said, dropping a bat in front of Cespedes' right sneaker to fine-tune his pivot.

For the better part of two years, these drills, these details, have formed the bedrock of Cespedes' ascension from one-dimensional slugger to National League MVP candidate. Now 31, Cespedes is the Mets' best hitter, as much the heart of their lineup as David Wright is the soul of their clubhouse. Back in New York on a four-year, $110 million contract that surprised even manager Terry Collins, Cespedes has developed into a bona fide MVP candidate.

He will need to make good on that promise for the Mets to return to baseball's grandest stage.

We all have that mentality," Cespedes said through an interpreter. "We know we can win a World Series." (DiComo - mlb.com - 3/28/17)

As of the start of the 2021 season, Cespedes had a .273 career batting average with 165 home runs and 528 RBI in 3,191 at-bats in the Majors.

Cespedes has a 60 arm, which would be a weapon in center field and plenty to play right field if he loses a step.

His arm stroke isn't fluid, as it's shorter than most outfielders and gives his throwing mechanics some funkiness. Regardless of how he does it, his throws have plenty of carry and scouts have generally been pleased with his accuracy.

You can watch the throw Yoenis made in a June 2014 game a half-dozen times. We'll all watch it again and again, and then we'll attempt to put the thing into words.

There are none, really. You can watch Major League Baseball for a lot of years and not see an outfield play as spectacular as this one. Even now, it feels surreal, like it didn't really happen.  I mean, who has that kind of arm strength? And it came out of nowhere. Cespedes had bobbled the ball, seemed almost nonchalant about running over and picking it up.

And then he did that? It was in the air for perhaps 300 feet—a long, arcing throw, a breathtaking play, a throw that ended up in catcher Derek Norris's glove and nailed Howie Kendrick.

Somehow, it fits what we know of Cespedes. He's liked in his own clubhouse. He likes to have a good time.  And there's this: Cespedes' talent is scary.

I went back and looked at the one Roberto Clemente made in Game 6 of the 1971 World Series. In the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game, Clemente scooped Don Buford's double out of the right-field corner and fired a cannon shot back to home plate to hold Mark Belanger at third base.

When you think of Clemente, there are two iconic images that may come to mind. One is him flying around second base and his helmet coming off, arms flailing, a picture of fire and determination. That photo, perhaps more than any other, sums up Clemente. And the other is that throw, that incredible throw.

Maybe all you need to know about the totality of Clemente's game is that the two plays a lot of people associate with him have nothing to do with his 3,000 hits. Isn't that what a complete player is? And Cespedes is the whole package, too. Wow. What an amazing play. (Justice - mlb.com - 6/11/14)

The health of Céspedes' legs may remain uncertain following multiple heel surgeries and a fractured right ankle, but the health of his right arm most certainly does not. In February and March, Céspedes was a frequent sight during defensive drills in Port St. Lucie, Fla., unleashing throws that looked indistinguishable from those during his prime. A Gold Glove Award winner in 2015, Céspedes has annually rated highly on FanGraphs’ ARM metric, which measures how many runs above average an outfielder saves by preventing runners from advancing.

Now that Juan Lagares is gone from Flushing, Céspedes possesses the strongest arm in the Mets’ clubhouse. The only question is whether he'll have a chance to use it, now 22 months removed from his last big league game, or if his leg issues will keep him limited to a designated-hitter role (or even off the field altogether). -- Anthony DiComo

Beyond his pure speed, Cespedes is explosive, agile, and in terrific physical condition. His promotional video shows him performing a 45-inch box jump, impressive not just for the jump but for the balanced landing on the box.

"I've never seen anyone with acceleration like that," said teammate Josh Reddick in 2012. "He gets to full speed within two seconds."

June 13, 2012: Yoenis was removed from the game after he re-aggravated  a hamstring injury while legging out a first-inning grounder.

April 12-28, 2013: An awkward slide landed Cespedes on the D.L. with a strained muscle in his left hand. He sustained the injury attempting to slide into second base in the A's 4-3 win over the Tigers. He stayed in the game as it went into extra innings, but he eventually had to be removed for a pinch-hitter. An MRI showed no structural damage.

"He either slipped or caught the back of his spike in the ground," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "That's why he started rolling. He's an aggressive guy who goes into bases hard."

September 30, 2015: Cespedes was struck on the left hand/wrist by a fastball from the Phillies Justin De Fratus, leaving the game. X-rays were negative, and the team said Cespedes suffered bruises to the middle and ring fingers of his left hand.

August 3-19, 2016: Cespedes injured his quad. The Mets placed him on the 15-day disabled list.

April 28-June 10, 2017: Cespedis was on the DL with left hamstring strain.

Aug 26, 2017: Cespedes was on the DL with right hamstring strain. He was injured running the bases.

May 14-July 20, 2018: Cespedes was on the DL with  mild strain of right hip flexor.

July 24, 2018 : The Mets announced they placed Cespedes on the disabled list with sore heels. He had season ending heel surgery for twin heel calcifications.

On July 31, 2018: Yoenis was moved to the 60-day DL.

Oct 26-Nov 2, 2018: Yoenis Cespedes underwent surgery to remove bone calcification in his left heel, after undergoing an identical procedure on his right heel over the summer. Cespedes has estimated he will not be able to return to baseball activities for about four months, all but ensuring he will miss the start of the regular season.

March 25-Nov 4, 2019: Cespedes was on the IL with recovery from heel surgery.

May 18, 2019: Céspedes' chances of returning in 2019, already slim, have reached something close to zero. The outfielder suffered multiple fractures in his right ankle during an accident on his ranch in Florida. After having surgery he is likely to miss the rest of the season.

May 23, 2019:  Yoenis underwent surgery to repair multiple fractures in his right ankle. He will not return this season.

Dec 9, 2019: General manager Brodie Van Wagenen revealed that Céspedes has been taking his batting hacks on a back field in Port St. Lucie, Fla. . He also recently began a throwing program and, most important, a running program, with an eye toward returning at some point in 2020.

Jan 21, 2020: Watch 'Yo' go: Céspedes sprinting in rehab. It's an encouraging sight for Mets fans on a frigid Monday in New York: Yoenis Céspedes is working his way into baseball shape. The Queens slugger tweeted out a video of his offseason workout in Port St. Lucie, Fla., which showed him sprinting, swinging in the cage and snagging a fly ball with behind-the-back catches in the outfield.

The summer of 2020 will be a big one for Céspedes. The Mets star hasn’t appeared in a Major League game since July 20, 2018, after calcifications and bone spurs in both heels originally put him on the injured list. Earlier this month, reports surfaced that a bizarre run-in with a wild boar on Céspedes’ ranch in Port St. Lucie was the cause of a violent fall that left Céspedes with multiple right ankle fractures, costing him the entirety of the ’19 season. (M Kelly - MLB.com - Jan 20, 2020)

Feb 21, 2020: Céspedes continued to work out on a limited basis this week in Port St. Lucie, taking live batting practice and running through outfield drills as he recovers from multiple heel surgeries and a fractured right ankle. He did not participate in all activities, however, due to the time he needed with Mets trainers. Céspedes is only running in straight lines at the moment, and never at full speed.

July 3-Oct 28, 2020, 2020: For about 10 minutes during the latter third of the Mets’ workout, Yoenis Céspedes stood in foul ground, casually gunning baseballs 120-150 feet to his throwing partner Johneshwy Fargas. Later, after nearly all.  It marked another step forward for Céspedes, with three more weeks until Opening Day.

“To my understanding,” Rojas said, “he’s in that progression where they’re ramping him up.”

his teammates had departed, Céspedes stuck around by himself to run a series of sprints on the outfield grass.