Red Sox infield prospect Yoeilin Cespedes posted a video of himself taking some swings in a batting cage to his Instagram story earlier Thursday afternoon.
Cespedes, the No. 9 prospect in Boston’s farm system according to Baseball America, is approximately four months removed from undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a broken hamate bone in his left hand. The issue first popped up for the 19-year-old after he was promoted from the Florida Complex League to Low-A Salem in late June.
Though he was initially considered day-to-day, the soreness in Cespedes’ left hand lingered and led to further testing being done. Those tests ultimately resulted in the diagnosis of a hamate fracture, as Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham explained to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier in July.
Because of the surgery, Cespedes will have to wait until next April at the earliest to make his Low-A debut. Still, there is no denying that the Dominican native put together a strong first season stateside in 2024 after originally signing with the Red Sox for $1.4 million as a highly-touted international free agent last January. He then kicked off his professional career by earning 2023 Dominican Summer League All-Star honors and being named Boston’s Latin Program Position Player of the Year.
After being slowed by a quadriceps strain in spring training, Cespedes debuted for the rookie-level FCL Red Sox on May 9 and took off from there. In 25 games, the young right-handed hitter batted stout .319/.400/.615 with 10 doubles, one triple, five home runs, 24 RBIs, 20 runs scored, three stolen bases, 12 walks, and 19 strikeouts in 25 games (105 plate appearances). That includes a .317/.374/.622 slash line against right-handed pitching and a .333/.571/.556 slash line against lefties.
— Red Sox Player Development (@RedSoxPlayerDev) June 18, 2024Yoeilin Cespedes raking is beautiful from every angle!
The 18-year-old went 3-for-4 with a HR, double, single, 2 BB, and 2 RBI in yesterday's FCL Red Sox win. pic.twitter.com/jT8Exl7Rs0
Among the 139 hitters who made at least 100 trips to the plate during the FCL season, Cespedes ranked first in slugging percentage and isolated power (.297), second in OPS (1.015), fourth in wOBA (.464) and wRC+ (163), 11th in batting average, 34th in on-base percentage, and 42nd in strikeout rate (18.1 percent), per FanGraphs.
On the other side of the ball, Cespedes saw most of his playing time in the FCL come at either shortstop or second base. In 10 starts at short, the projectable 5-foot-8, 181-pounder committed five errors in 36 defensive chances. In seven starts at second, he did not commit a single error in 30 defensive chances. He also started eight games at DH, five of which came in succession to ease him back into things out of the gate in May.
Cespedes, who just turned 19 last month, has already shown that he has top-100 prospect potential when healthy. Given the breadth of position-playing prospects the Red Sox have in their system at the moment, it would not be surprising if Cespedes emerged as a possible trade candidate as the club looks to address other areas of need this winter. Assuming he remains in the organization, though, Cespedes seems likely to open the 2025 campaign at Salem.
