Yoenis Cespedes is alive and doing baseball things.
The New York Mets star outfielder was shown in an Instagram video posted by minor-league coach Endy Chavez taking batting practice in what is the first evidence of the 34-year-old participating in baseball activities. The video was deleted by Chavez shortly after, but preserved by SNY:
Yo taking some hacks…off Endy Chavez (via endychavezofficial/IG) pic.twitter.com/GNtBnF3Ock
— SNY (@SNYtv) November 19, 2019
This comes two weeks after Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen admitted is uncertainty on whether Cespedes would be able to play in 2020 at all.
” “It’s too early to tell,” Van Wagenen said. “I don’t have enough information to predict when he’s going to be back.”
Cespedes has not appeared in a regular-season game for the Mets since July of the 2018 season due to a litany of injury issues.
He needed surgery on both of his heels in 2018 to remove bone spurs and calcifications from the area.
On the verge of a comeback a month into the 2019 season, Cespedes suffered a fall on his ranch in Florida that resulted in a fractured ankle that forced him out for the entire year.
It’s been an enormous absence for the Mets to deal with, though his injury issues have become commonplace during his time with the Mets.
After signing a four-year, $110 million contract following the 2016 season, he has appeared in a combined 119 games.
When he’s healthy, though, he’s a force to be reckoned with.
In 308 career games with the Mets, Cespedes is slashing .282/.346/.543 with 74 home runs and 201 RBI. That’s a 162-game pace of 38 home runs and 105 RBI.
The Mets have accrued a solid group of outfielders during Cespedes’ absence. Michael Conforto is coming off his first 30-home-run season while JD Davis, Jeff McNeil, and Dominic spent considerable time in the corner outfield spots; adding to a talent pool that also includes Brandon Nimmo.
Cespedes — another corner outfielder — would add to the Mets’ logjam while the need for a natural center fielder continues.
