FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox 19-year-old prospect Yoeilin Cespedes put on a few extra pounds after undergoing surgery to repair a broken hamate bone last summer. For him, it wasn’t acceptable and he got right back to working out.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t have a day off because I feel like I didn’t deserve one,” Cespedes said through translator Daveson Perez. “So I just continued to stay occupied and work as hard as I can.”
Cespedes, who signed for $1.4 million out of the Dominican Republic in January 2023, isn’t tall at 5-foot-9. But he’s muscular, weighing in at 203 pounds. He’s strong, he swings hard from the right side of the plate and he hits the ball very hard. Baseball America, which ranks him Boston’s No. 6 prospect, wrote in his scouting report that Cespedes “has produced exit velocities in the 110 mph vicinity.”
“I’m not really sure as far as in games what it (exit velocities) would be but it could be right,” Cespedes said.
He said he felt he didn’t deserve a day off during his rehab and in the offseason because his job as a professional athlete is to be in shape.
“It’s just my body is my life,” Cespedes said. “It’s how I make my living. And I didn’t want to have any excuses. And I didn’t want to let myself gain too much weight.”
MassLive ranked Cespedes, a second baseman/shortstop, Boston’s No. 6 prospect on its 2025 Red Sox Top 25 prospect list.
He was limited to 25 games in the Florida Complex League in 2024 because of his hamate bone injury that put him on the 60-day IL. He raked in those 25 games though, batting .319 with a .400 on-base percentage, .615 slugging percentage, 1.015 OPS, five homers, 10 doubles, one triple, 24 RBIs, 20 runs, three steals, 12 walks and 19 strikeouts (105 plate appearances).
“Around September last year, I was able to start doing little things here and there,” he said. “Things with my hands. Shadow swings. Things like that.”
Cespedes likely will begin 2025 at Low-A Salem. He has the potential to be a breakout prospect this summer. The talent is there to make a leap onto Baseball America’s Top 100 list. When he played in the Dominican Summer League in 2023, assistant GM Eddie Romero said, “He’s put up some numbers we haven’t seen very much from that level.”
Cespedes remained at the JetBlue Park working out there until Nov. 22 before returning home.
“I think that was a really good decision that I made to stay here,” Cespedes said.
He works out with the same trainer whenever he returns home to the D.R. Cespedes is a pretty simple guy. He mostly trains and spends time with his family.
“I like being with my family all the time,” he said. “I feel just good being with them. I feel like being with them is better than any party or anything I could be doing.”
MLB Pipeline ranks Cespedes Boston’s No. 7 prospect and wrote that he “earns Howie Kendrick comparisons for his hitting ability and stocky build.”
Cespedes said he’s not familiar with Kendrick but “might look him up” to see videos of him.
“I try not to compare myself to anybody,” he said. “I see us all as really good baseball players and I respect everybody for what they can do. The gift that God gave me, I’m trying to bring it to the highest level.”
Xander Bogaerts was his favorite player growing up and he actually signed with Boston in part because of Bogaerts.
His strong approach at the plate has stood out to the Red Sox since they scouted and signed him, although he’ll need to make better swing decisions as he continues to move up the system. He goes to all fields and hits the ball hard. Baseball America grades his power 60 (above average) on the 20-80 grading scale and his hitting 50 (major league average). BA wrote, “The compact and powerful Cespedes leaves nothing on the table when he swings. He drives hard off his back leg and then lets his bat rip through the zone—sometimes stepping in the bucket—in a made-to-pull act of aggression. The result is loud contact.”
He said he will “work hard to improve” exit velocities so they can “get better.”
“Hitting-wise I think just keeping the same as I was doing last year,” Cespedes said. “I think that’s like a God-given ability of what I was able to do. And just working on the defensive side of the ball as well, trying to get better there.”
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