Having conquered baseball, Yoenis Cespedes is now mashing drives on the golf course
Cespedes has a new pregame routine: Playing golf
Time and again, Yoenis Cespedes has demonstrated his ability to hit a baseball a very, very long way. But after spending the past few months doing nothing but hitting dingers, he began to wonder -- is this all there is? Am I simply destined to mash baseball after baseball from now unto eternity? Isn't there some kind of other white ball that I can attempt to send into orbit?
And so, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal Cespedes has picked up a new pregame hobby: Hitting the golf course. He hadn't even picked up a club until early last year, when he participated in a charity tournament in Florida (and demonstrated that he clearly had the fashion aspect of the sport down pat):
Worked on my swing at Jeff Conine's Celebrity Golf Fundraiser pic.twitter.com/6YIC7MmiCL
- Yoenis Cespedes (@ynscspds) January 22, 2014Since then, he's been playing as often as he can, including bringing and orange-and-blue golf bag with him on road trips. And, because he is truly not of this world, he's already shooting between the low-70s and low-80s. Take it from New York's pitching coach, Dan Warthen: "I've played with him at least three times. His power as far as driving the ball, hitting the ball up, is incredible. 400-yard drives, 250-yard 5-irons, just pure."
Don't believe us? Check out his swing, which is roughly equivalent to Paul Bunyan chopping down a tree with a thunderbolt:
If Cespedes can do to a baseball what he does to a golf ball, wear a hard hat if you sit in the left field bleachers this summer. The power is remarkable - in fast and slow motion.
Posted by Michigan Golf Live Radio/TV on Friday, February 27, 2015
Cespedes even says that it helps him when he gets to the ballpark. As he told the Journal, "For me, golf is sort of like when I go fishing. I just forget any problem that I have, anything that's troubling me, and I just worry ab out what's at hand and enjoy it.
His hitting coach, Kevin Long, agrees: "I want him to play golf as much as possible. If he played golf [that day], most of the time he hits a home run."