Yoeilin Cespedes offers ‘violent swing that generates tremendous bat speed’
In January, Red Sox infield prospect Yoeilin Cespedes signed his first professional contract. He received a $1.4 million signing bonus, making him the highest-paid international prospect doing the 2023 free agent class.
Cespedes made his pro debut as a 17-year-old in the Dominican Summer League and was later recognized as the organization’s Latin Program Position Player of the Year.
The Dominican native has risen up the prospect list, Baseball America ranks Cespedes as the organizations No. 10 prospect.
Cespedes was the most prominent Red Sox international addition in their 2023 signing class. Boston signed him for $1.4 million based on his compact swing that served as the basis both for atypical plate discipline and high exit velocities among the signing class. In his pro debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2023, Cespedes added to the high regard for his offensive potential, hitting .346/.392/.560 with six home runs and a modest 11% strikeout rate while showing defensive improvement at shortstop. He ranked sixth among qualifiers with a .346 average in the 50-team DSL.
The now 18-year-old slashed .346/.392/.560 with 15 doubles, four triples, six home runs, 38 runs driven in, 37 runs scored, one stolen base, 14 walks, and 24 strikeouts in 46 total games (209 plate appearances) this past season.
“He definitely stands out offensively,” Red Sox assitant general manager Eddie Romero told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier back in June.
“He’s not pull-oriented,” said Romero in a separate column with MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “He uses the whole field. He hits the ball hard everywhere. And he hits the ball hard to a lot of quadrants that are pitched to him too, which is good. He doesn’t strike out much. He makes a lot of contact. There’s a lot of good, positive indicators there.”
Baseball America’s scouting report:
Cespedes holds little back in a violent swing that generates tremendous bat speed and yields impressive exit velocities. As a 17-year-old, he generated a max exit velocity of 107 mph and registered with a 90th percentile EV of 101 mph. Despite the aggressiveness of his hack, Cespedes showed relatively advanced pitch recognition for the level and made impressive swing decisions that accounted for his strengths. These qualities suggest significant offensive potential with average-to-plus abilities as both a hitter and power hitter and daydreams of an eventual contributor in the top half of a lineup. Cespedes spent the year at shortstop but most evaluators believe he’ll eventually end up at either second base or third base because of the limits of his range and the likelihood that he’ll get bigger.
Baseball America projects the young infielder to start in the Florida Complex League and has an opportunity to play part of the year in Low-A Salem. The 18-year-old has been considered was “one of the top hitting prospects to come through the organization’s academy since Rafael Devers a decade ago,” per BA.
Cespedes’ spoke about being compared to Devers at Fenway Park in September.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to be compared to him,” Cespedes said through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez. “He’s someone I admire and follow a lot. For me to be compared with him, it’s very, very special.”
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