Yoenis Céspedes Milanés

Professional baseball player for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball in the United States. Outfielder.

Native of the town of Campechuela in the province of Granma, he is the son of Estela Milanés, a softball pitcher who participated in the 2000 Olympic Games for Cuba.

Céspedes in 1998 enrolled in a special sports school in the municipality of Bayamo, during this stage he managed to participate in the youth national series. Due to his outstanding performance starting in 2002, he became part of Cuba's Youth team.

Yoenis Céspedes made his debut in the National Series with the Granma team during the 2003-2004 series where he had a batting average of .302, OBP of .382 and .503 slugging. He received consideration to be elected Rookie of the Year of the National Series.

He was part of the Cuba team several times, winning several awards such as Gold in the 2010 University World Championship and in the 2010 Intercontinental Baseball Cup and silver in the 2009 Baseball World Cup.

Endowed with almost everything a player needs to shine on the diamond, the Granma outfielder reached the peak of his career. He achieved it through powerful hits, but also through dedication and consistency.

Yoenis Céspedes declared himself a free agent in 2012 and was signed on February 13, 2012 by the Major League team Oakland Athletics for four years and 36 million dollars. In his contract with this team the salaries are divided for the seasons 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 at $6,500,000.00, $8,500,000.00, $10,500,000.00 and $10,500,000.00 respectively.

In the 2012 season he finished in the American League in 9th place in Power-Speed with 18.9; 7th in WPA with 3.8; 8th in RE24 with 31.68; 8th in REW with 3.1 and 10th in WPA/LI with 3.0 points.

In the 2012 Post Season he participated in 5 games with 19 at-bats with 6 hits, 1 double and 2 RBIs averaging .316 in batting.

In the 2013 season he finished 5th in assists as LF with 9, 2nd in Range Factor (Games as LF) with 2.09.

In the 2013 Post Season he participated in 5 games with 21 at-bats with 8 hits, 1 double, 1 triple, 1 home run and 4 RBIs averaging .381 in batting.

In the 2013 Home Run Derby, a home run competition held on July 15 at Citi Field in New York City. The American League captain Robinson Canó called him to be part of the competition. In the first round he hit 18 home runs, more than double his closest competitor, in the second round he hit 6 and in the final round against Bryce Harper he dispatched 9 for a total of 32 home runs. Céspedes thus became the first winner of the home run derby who had not been selected for the All-Star Game in the same season.

In the 2014 Season he began the season with the Oakland Athletics and at the end of July 2014 he was traded to the Boston Red Sox in an exchange for pitcher Jon Lester.

In mid-December 2014 he was traded along with Alex Wilson and Gabe Speier to the Detroit Tigers for Rick Porcello.

In the 2014 Home Run Derby, the home run competition held on July 14 at Target Field in Minneapolis had a new format, this time five players from each league participated in the competition. Yoenis was part of it for the American League alongside team captain José Bautista, Adam Jones, his teammate Josh Donaldson and Brian Dozier.

In the first round he hit three home runs, nine in the second, seven in the third and won the final with nine against Todd Frazier who only managed to hit one. He totaled 28 home runs in all.

In this way he wins the Home Run Derby consecutively and joins Ken Griffey Jr. as the only players to have achieved it.

2014 MLB All-Star Game, he was part for the first time in Major League Baseball of the American League All-Stars.

In the 2015 Season Céspedes played his first game of the season with the Tigers during Opening Day against the Minnesota Twins on April 6, 2015. In this game that the Tigers won 4-0 he made a great catch and robbed a home run at the fence from Kurt Suzuki.

Céspedes was traded on July 31, 2015 to the New York Mets for 2 minor league prospect pitchers from the Mets: Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa.

Since 2015 he has been part of the New York Mets roster. In 2016 he was nominated for a Silver Slugger.

The Cuban did not play with his team since July 2018 due to surgeries on both heels, followed by a right ankle fracture in a mysterious fall at his ranch in Florida, an injury that cost him restructuring the final part of his $110 million contract for four years that he signed before the 2016 season with the Mets. To avoid a lawsuit from the team, Céspedes agreed to reduce his salary in 2019 from $29 to $22.9 million and to $11 million (prorated) in 2020 if he made the Opening Day roster.

"The Power" not only made the roster, but also hit a home run to lead the Mets to a 1-0 victory in his first game of the year on July 24, 2020.

In August 2020 on Sunday, August 2 in the morning, the 34-year-old from Granma left his hotel room in Atlanta, without even notifying the Mets officials. In fact, the team was forced to issue a statement indicating that the player was "missing" and not responding to any calls.

Hours later, Céspedes contacted his agent to inform him that he would not play for the rest of the season. As a result of this decision, Céspedes—whose average salary per season was 4.07 million dollars—will have to forgo the rest of the money owed to him. At the same time, it is expected that this action will end his time with the Mets.