MUST-SEE ABs

When Yoenis Cespedes hit three home runs Tuesday night, not to mention that two-iron to dead-center for a double, as well as two more home runs on Thursday, Ron Darling more or less declared the Cuban star had officially ascended to the highest level of Mets’ slugger-dom.

That is, the same level as Darryl Strawberry and Mike Piazza.

The Mets don’t have a rich history of offensive talent in their 56 years of existence — certainly nothing to match their pitching lineage.

But Piazza and Strawberry are all-timers, one a Hall of Famer and the others whose path to Cooperstown was derailed by drug problems. Cespedes may have arrived in the big leagues a few years too late to make his own bid for the Hall, but there’s no doubt he has the talent.

Darling’s praise for Cespedes on the SNY telecast, in which he grouped him with Piazza and Strawberry, prompted me to think about just where the Cuban slugger ranks with the other two.

It’s too early in Cespedes’ time with the Mets to compare numbers but not so in the areas of clutch impact, star appeal or simply the wow factor of his at-bats.

So I polled some long-time Mets’ observers and fans, asking them two questions.

No. 1: Which of the three has the highest must-see quotient, as in, you make sure to never miss one of his at-bats?

No. 2: Which one would you most want up in the late innings, needing an extra-base hit or a home run to win the game?

Each player received votes but Strawberry earned the consensus for the must-see quotient and Piazza for the clutch impact. So in that sense, Cespedes still has work to do.

Interestingly, as the only ex-player polled, Darling had the highest praise for Cespedes. He said he couldn’t answer the questions fairly because he didn’t see enough of Piazza, but Darling did give Cespedes the nod over Strawberry on both counts, obviously no small feat since the two were teammates during the ’80s glory years.

In so many words, in fact, Darling is simply fascinated with Cespedes.

“I think Ces is a better hitter than Straw,’’ Darling said. “I don’t think he could match Straw’s prodigious home runs, but to me he’s a great player still coming into his prime, getting better as a hitter.

“Straw was a once-in-a-lifetime comet of a player, but you can’t take your eyes off Cespedes when he’s on the field. The good and the bad. He’ll make some bonehead plays, but that’s part of his charm too somehow.

“The way the crowd responds to him, he’s the only guy since I’ve been here doing games on TV where I make sure to lay out when he does something, because you want to hear the crowd. And that includes guys like (David) Wright and (Jose) Reyes and (Carlos) Beltran.

“It’s such an interesting dynamic with him. We know less about him because he doesn’t speak the language, and that makes him more interesting to me.

“All three of these guys love the big stage, and it seems to bring out the best in Cespedes.”

Here is how the others answered the poll questions: I’ll start with myself, and for Question 1, I have to go Strawberry.

That size, 6-foot-6 and lean; the torque he created seemed unlike any other hitter at the time. He could hit a moonshot miles in the air, like the one I saw on Opening Day in 1988 in Montreal, when he hit the roof of Olympic Stadium, or he could hit those missiles, like the famous shot off the clock in St. Louis to help win a huge pennant race game in 1985.

For Question 2, I do think Piazza was the best pure hitter, but I’m taking Cespedes because I think he’s reached a new level this year, apparently motivated not only to win an MVP but prove everyone wrong who speculated his effort would be an issue when he got his mega-deal.

l HOWIE ROSE, the Mets’ long-time radio voice, who grew up rooting for the team: Question 1: Strawberry. “It’s really a flip of a three-way coin, but I always remember, you stopped everything you were doing to watch Straw come to the plate, because you might see a 500-foot home run at any given moment.

“There was just an aura about him. I think part of it was he was homegrown, the No. 1 pick in the draft. Piazza hit the farthest home run I ever saw, off Ramiro Mendoza in an inter-league game against the Yankees that cleared the big tent they put behind the left field wall at Shea, but overall, nobody hit them like Straw.” Question 2: Piazza. “There’s not even a second thought about this one. For all of Mike’s raw power, we tend to forget, he was such a good hitter with so much power the other way. So if you need an extra-base hit I could easily see Piazza taking one up the gap to right-center. By far he’s the guy I’d want up there in that situation.”

l GARY COHEN, the TV voice of the Mets since SNY was born in 2006, and before that Rose’s partner on the radio side, who also grew up in New York rooting for the Mets. Question 1: No definitive choice. “I need more time with Cespedes. I watched Strawberry and Piazza for much longer, but the way Cespedes attacks every at-bat, it’s phenomenal to watch. I would seriously consider putting him on a par with the other two. His charisma, his star power is every bit what the other two brought to the table.

“There’s no question those three are at the top. With apologies to David Wright, who has been a fantastic player, and Carlos Beltran, who might have had the best all-around ability, there’s a sense of anticipation when those other three come to the plate, because of the homerun power, and that’s what set them apart.” Question 2: Piazza. “If I needed one at-bat, I’d still put Piazza as the pinnacle, above the others. I can think of two dozen times when he had to absolutely come through in those situations, and he did. Cespedes certainly has time to catch him, the way he’s going, but Piazza’s clutch ability was like no other.”

l BOB HEUSSLER, longtime sports anchor at WFAN, and well known to fans as Mr. Met, so dubbed by Mike Francesa. Question 1: Strawberry. “There was something majestic about Straw’s home runs. You didn’t miss an at-bat. His home runs could look like a work of art. He had that Ken Griffey Jr.-type swing, and when he’d launch one 450 feet, you’d just go, ‘Oh my God.’

“Darryl could frustrate you at times too. And the other guys are great, but there was just something about when Straw would hit one of those home runs. Every at-bat was an event.” Question 2: Piazza. “I love seeing Cespedes up in those situations, don’t get me wrong, but Piazza was such a gamer. I remember so many big hits, and I just feel like with the game on the line he’s the guy who’s going to make harder contact most of the time.”

l JOE BENIGNO, long-time WFAN host, and rather famous for sharing his pain as a Mets’ fan with his audience: Question 1: Strawberry. “I’m a big Darryl guy. Nobody screamed more than me about resigning Cespedes, and he’s great to watch, but there was something about Darryl and his power: you never wanted to miss one of his at-bats.” Question 2: Strawberry. “To me, Darryl hit more big, meaningful home runs than Piazza. He hit some huge home runs in the ’86 postseason, and he helped that team win a championship, which matters to me. Piazza was great, but the biggest home run he hit was in that 9/11 game.”

l BOB KLAPISCH, long-time baseball writer for the Post, Daily News, and The Record (N.J.), not to mention my old co-author of the “The Worst Team Money Could Buy,” which chronicled the ugly collapse of the 1980s-turned-90s Mets. Question 1: Strawberry. “I saw it from the beginning with Straw, and there was something magical about him. He was a homegrown Met, so young, so talented, he was almost a larger-thanlife figure. You never knew how far he might hit the ball.” Question 2: Cespedes. “I used to say Darryl, because he could look so bad his first three at-bats and still break a pitcher’s heart with the game on the line, but I’m leaning toward Cespedes now. He’s so dangerous. Pitchers can’t make a mistake. He still has to prove he can do it against elite pitching in the playoffs, but I like what I’m seeing.”