Red Sox 18-year-old prospect Yoeilin Cespedes went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and one run in the Florida Complex League Red Sox’ 5-4 win over the FCL Twins on Saturday.
The right-handed hitting shortstop/second baseman is 23-for-73 (.315 batting average) with a .393 on-base percentage, .616 slugging percentage, 1.009 OPS, four homers, eight doubles, one triple, 22 RBIs, 16 runs, three steals, nine walks and 13 strikeouts in 20 games.
MassLive ranked Cespedes No. 7 on its Top 25 Red Sox prospect list entering 2024.
Baseball America ranks him Boston’s No. 6 prospect and wrote July 11, “Already, Cespedes looks like one of the top hitting prospects to come through the organization’s academy since Rafael Devers a decade ago.”
Assistant GM Eddie Romero said about Cespedes last year: “He’s not pull-oriented. 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.”
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Other top performances Saturday
~ Nick Yorke went 2-for-4 with a homer, walk, two runs, an RBI and one strikeout in Triple-A Worcester’s 8-2 win over Rochester. It was Yorke’s first Triple-A homer. The 22-year-old second baseman (Boston’s first round pick in 2020) is 6-for-16 (.375) with two extra-base hits in four games since being promoted to Worcester.
~ Nick Sogard went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer for the WooSox.
~ Masataka Yoshida (thumb strain) went 1-for-4 in his first rehab game with Worcester.
~ Jedixson Paez, a 20-year-old righty from Venezuela, allowed just one run, two hits and no walks while striking out eight in his first start for High-A Greenville. It was his second appearance for the Drive since being promoted from Low-A Salem. He had a 4-inning relief appearance in his first outing in which he allowed two runs. Paez posted a 2.53 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 35 strikeouts and four walks in seven outings (five starts) for Salem to begin the season.
~ Red Sox No. 1 prospect Roman Anthony went 2-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and one strikeout in Double-A Portland’s 7-5 loss to Akron.
~ Kristian Campbell — who recently was promoted from High-A Greenville — went 1-for-3 with a double, one run, two walks and one strikeout for Portland. The 21-year-old (fourth round pick in 2023) is 6-for-19 (.316) with a .435 on-base percentage and two extra-base hits in five games for Portland.
