WITH CES, YA GOTTA BELIEVE
Long: Yoenis has star power like Jeter, A-Rod
PORT ST. LUCIE — Strictly by the numbers, Yoenis Cespedes really hasn’t done enough, other than last season perhaps, to be called a superstar. Yet you only have to watch him to know he qualifies in his own way, with a dynamic athleticism and distinctive flair that adds up to must-see star power.
It’s the reason Mets fans were ready to storm the gate at Citi Field had Cespedes signed with the Nationals. It’s the reason heads turned even among fellow players Sunday morning when the Cuban slugger showed up here for spring training.
Kevin Long knows something about such star power, having coached the likes of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano during his days as Yankee hitting coach. He says Cespedes fits the mold.
“He’s got that presence about him,” Long said on Sunday. “A-Rod and Jeet had it. When you know you can do things that other people can’t do, it gives you a little bit of swag. You see that in Yoenis.”
Long is convinced such presence gives a team a psychological edge, creating a belief among players that they have someone who won’t let them lose, which is indeed what Cespedes created among the Mets with his crazyhot stretch last summer.
“It’s the same thing we have with our starting pitchers,” Long said. “You feel like you’re going to win every day they take the mound. It’s the same with Yoenis.
“It’s the reason everybody is excited just to see him show up here five days early. You feel like you’re better already because he makes everybody else around him better.”
Obviously that quality is harder to define than it is in a sport like basketball for someone like LeBron James, creating easy scoring opportunities for teammates with his size, court vision and willingness to pass.
But belief is a powerful and necessary quality to get baseball teams through the grind of the 162-game season, and so if other players indeed believe Cespedes changes the way pitchers have to navigate their lineup, perhaps he does make everyone better.
It’s worth remembering that none other than David Wright, after a big offensive game hitting in the No. 2 spot late last season, seemed convinced that he received good pitches to hit at least partly because Cespedes was hot in the No. 3 spot.
“I’m going to have to slip Terry (Collins) a few bucks to keep Ces hitting behind me,'' Wright joked at the time.
On the other hand, Cespedes also proved to be as streaky as scouts said at the time the Mets acquired him from the Tigers at last summer’s trade deadline, going cold in the postseason, especially in the World Series when he went 3-for-20 (.150) without an extra-base hit or a walk.
Was there an explanation? Is it true, as scouts also say, that Cespedes will always be vulnerable to elite pitching because of his tendency to chase pitches out of the strike zone?
With those questions as the backdrop to his return to the Mets, it remains to be seen if Cespedes’ remarkable six-week run last August and September was merely the hot steak of all hot streaks, elevating him to career-highs with 35 home runs and 105 RBI, that will make it hard for him to live up to the expectations in 2016.
One thing for sure: the Mets didn’t guarantee Cespedes $27.5 million for this season to try to change his style and make him fit their preferred mold of a patient, high on-base percentage hitter.
No, they’re going to let him hack away, convinced the damage he’ll do when he’s hot will more than make up for the days he’s chasing everything in sight.
“Isn’t being streaky the nature of baseball?'' Long said. “So many players go through hot and cold streaks. We’ll try to keep him out of those valleys as much as we can, and keep his confidence as high as we can. At the end of the day, he’s going to do more good than bad, that’s for sure.”
Either way Long makes the case that whispers regarding concern about Cespedes’ motivation, many of which were coming from inside the Mets’ organization, are unfounded.
“He works a ton,” Long said. “He’s a guy who likes the cage. He might spend the most Atime there of anybody we have on the Mets.” nd with a one-year opt-out in his contract, motivation won’t be an issue. As for whether Cespedes can live up to high expectations, Collins paid him a huge compliment by invoking the name of Barry Bonds, one of the best pure hitters in baseball history, even without steroids.
“My years in Pittsburgh (as a coach),” Collins recalled, “they kept saying the same things about Barry: ‘He can’t do that again next year.’ No, he did better.”
Does Cespedes have such greatness in him? For now the only guarantee is that because of the superstar aura that surrounds him, it will be especially fascinating to watch and find out.