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Student of the game: Yo shows ability to adjust
- Updated: May 26, 2016
WASHINGTON — The visitors’ batting cage at Nationals Park is a spacious area, with colorless walls contrasting with fake green turf, and a bank of white plastic folding chairs off to one side. Throughout the Mets’ recent three-game series with the Nationals, the chairs generally sat empty, unused, save for one consistent occupant.
From clock in to clock out, Yoenis Cespedes ticks off most of his time here, in the cage, regardless of ballpark or city. He does not spend all those hours hitting; to the contrary, Cespedes believes fewer swings can be beneficial, allowing him to focus on the technicalities of his craft. But he is nonetheless a citizen of the cage. While the Mets hit, Cespedes regales them with tales of the differences between Cuban and American baseball. Recently, he used a maps app on his phone to show his teammates where he lived in Cuba before coming to the Majors.
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It is through this habit that Cespedes has made New York home, the Mets his family, the depth of that bond perhaps still misunderstood.
It is also through this habit that Cespedes has become one of the game’s most prolific power hitters. When the Mets take the field Friday for a series opener against the Dodgers, he will play his 100th game as a Met. Cespedes’ numbers through 99 games stand above and beyond what the front office thought probable when it traded for Cespedes last July: a .292 average, a .354 on-base percentage and a .627 slugging mark in 421 plate appearances, with 32 homers and 22 doubles.
Cespedes’ OPS over that span is third in the Majors behind David Ortiz and Bryce Harper. When he stepped off the field Wednesday in Washington, his slugging percentage, OPS, isolated power and weighted OPS all led the National League.
Just how Cespedes went from solid regular to one of the best players in baseball is a study in self-awareness, intelligence and comfort.
“I definitely don’t know if I can keep up …
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