Yoelqui Cespedes is first-week star of White Sox spring training

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Yoelqui Cespedes couldn’t contain that big smile of his.

“I feel so happy,” he said.

It was moments after Cespedes had reached out over the plate and yanked a home run over the left field fence at Camelback Ranch Saturday, against Cleveland Guardians Double-A right-hander Thomas Ponticelli. Two days earlier, he homered against Cubs Triple-A lefty Ben Holmes.

On Sunday, Cespedes, playing center field, threw out Rockie Zac Veen trying to advance from first to third on a single. Cespedes’ one-hop throw needed to be perfect and it was.

Needless to say, the 24-year-old Cuban prospect has been the star of Sox spring training, four days in.

“I feel so happy because I never [thought] I would play this year in the spring training,” Cespedes said. “My mind was on the minor leagues, and then I’m playing with the big leagues. Right now, I feel so good.”

The minor leagues is where Cespedes will start the season and it’s possible he doesn’t play with major leaguers again until spring training 2023. But like every top prospect with big league plans and dreams, Cespedes is thinking sooner than later.

“Oh yeah, yeah,” he said. “I feel really good this year because last year I felt — the language and the season is a lot different than Cuba — and this year I feel more comfortable here because the pitchers, the speed [of the game] is almost the same.”

Credit the Spanish speaking Cespedes for talking to reporters in English after his home run. He’s still in the learning phase of his second language, and it takes courage and confidence to do it in front of microphones and cameras. Translator Billy Russo was alongside to clarify questions if needed, but it says something about Cespedes showing the moxy to handle it on his own.

“He’s very intelligent,” Ryan Newman, his manager at Advanced A Winston-Salem last season, said. “He has got a lot of direction from his [half] brother [former All-Star Yoenis Cespedes] — they’re very close. He’s very mature, and once he figures it out and makes the adjustment to how the game is played here in the states we’re going to see him take off.”

Even though he struggled during the Arizona Fall League, batting .181/.244/.222 in 19 games, talent evaluators are still buying in on Cespedes, who is No. 2 on Baseball Americ’s Sox prospect list behind 2021 first-round draft choice shortstop Colson Montgomery and No. 4 on MLB Pipeline’s list behind Montgomery, outfielder Oscar Colas and infielder Jose Rodriguez.

“Strong engine, big power, special, special player tools wise,” Sox hitting coordinator Andy Barkett said. “He needs to play in the minor leagues and figure out the strike zone and who he is as a player. Everybody has a different journey when it comes to development.”

Manager Tony La Russa, who watched Cespedes play in the Fall League, scoffed when told some scouts were not sold on Cespedes just yet.

“Oh, he takes a really good swing,” La Russa said. “He’s very compact and his explosion is the kind of thing where you get a lot of life off the bat.”

Cespedes is just trying to keep his approach at the plate simple, looking for a good pitch to hit and letting his athleticism take over. His path to the Sox outfield isn’t exactly wide open, with Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert planted in left and center for years to come and Andrew Vaughn, Gavin Sheets and Adam Engel in the current right field mix. Then there’s Colas and Micker Adolfo among prospects also pushing for a spot.

All Cespedes knows is he leads the Sox in Cactus League homers and outfield assists right now.

So what if we’re only four games into the schedule.

Rounding the bases after Saturday’s homer, Cespedes was overwhelmed with joy.

“I said to myself, ‘Oh, I did it again!’ ” he said. “Let’s do it.”

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