Yoenis Cespedes Makes Oakland Athletics Spring Training Debut, Does Not Disappoint

Published: 10^th Mar 12 4:55 pm

by Steven Resnick
stevenresnick

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Yoenis Cespedes Makes Oakland Athletics Spring Training Debut, Does Not Disappoint

Jeff Bottari- Getty Images

Yoenis Cespedes made his Oakland Athletics Spring Training debut and did not disappoint. He got the start in center field and was inserted into the no.2 sp0t in the batting order.

He had two at-bats against Cincinnati Reds starter Johnny Cueto and one against Jeff Francis.

In Cespedes first at-bat against Cueto he had the chance to show what he could do with a runner on base. Cliff Pennington started off the bottom of the first with a leadoff single. Cueto then fell behind in the count to Cespedes and did manage to make a tough pitch to at least get the count full, yet Cespedes was patient and drew the walk.

For Cespedes his second at-bat saw him again with the chance to show what he could do with runners on base. This time he had a chance with runners on first and third and he wasted no time taking the first pitch from Cueto up the middle for an rbi single.

Francis relieved Cueto to start the bottom of the fourth inning and this allowed for Cespedes to show what he could do leading off an inning and what he could do against a left handed pitcher. He dug himself a hole by swinging at some bad pitches outside the strike zone and fell into a 0-2 count against Francis.

Yet, the next four pitches Cespedes was able to foul off to keep the bat alive. Francis made a mistake with what appeared to be a high change up and Cespedes took him deep for a solo home run. Not a bad way for Cespedes to end his Spring Training debut.

Overall he finished 2-2, with a home run, two rbi and a walk.

Here’s a link to the video of Cespedes’ Home Run.