Yoenis Cespedes carried a truckload of question marks into the 2012 season. He had never played professional baseball outside of Cuba. He was considered extremely raw offensively and defensively. And the A’s committed four years and $36 million to him, which looked like an overpay at the time.
But things seem to be working out pretty well.
Cespedes homered and tripled in the A’s 6-1 defeat of the Orioles on Saturday night in Baltimore and is now batting .302/.361/.541 with 14 dingers and 53 RBI through the first 68 games of his major league career. He also made an impressive running catch in center field, covering a ridiculous amount of ground in a short amount of time to rob a would-be double from the O’s Omar Quintanilla.
Cespedes, 26, is already one of the most exciting players in baseball and could get even better as he grows more comfortable. Oakland is 10 games above .500 and currently leading the pack in the AL Wild Card hunt.
