Yoenis Cespedes adds to his Mets hype train: ‘I will be ready’

Mets decision-makers aren’t ready to say it, but Yoenis Cespedes is:

He’ll be ready for Opening Day.

The injury-prone slugger plans to be in the starting lineup on July 24 — more than two years after his last game — when the Mets host the Braves at Citi Field to begin this abbreviated 60-game season.

“I know for certain now that I will be ready [on Opening Day], and I’m very excited for the season to start in two weeks,” Cespedes said Saturday in a Zoom video from Citi Field.

Get excited, Mets fans.

Cespedes, who missed all of last season and most of 2018 due to multiple leg injuries, said he feels great, that he is running close to normal and he believes he can play the outfield as well. On Saturday, Cespedes ran the bases, sprinting down the line and going from home to second base before serving as the designated hitter in a simulated game. He feels “way better” than he did in March.

So while general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and manager Luis Rojas have preached patience, saying they need him to show more running the bases and playing the outfield before proclaiming him ready to go, Cespedes is encouraged by his progress.

“The way that my body feels right now, the way I’m able to run, I feel so much better and I’ll be able to play the outfield if that comes up,” he said.

Cespedes last appeared in a regular-season game on July 20, 2018. Since then, he has undergone surgery on each of his heels and sustained ankle fractures in an accident on his ranch involving a wild boar. Sometimes, Cespedes wakes up with tightness in a tendon above his heel, he said, but otherwise he feels fine.

Cespedes said in February he was finished discussing the incident publicly.

He is playing for a contract, in his final season of a four-year, $110 million deal that saw the final season cut down due to the ranch accident to a $6 million base salary and a series of performance-based incentives. When healthy, he has produced, reaching two All-Star Games and leading the Mets to the postseason in his first two years with them in 2015 and 2016. In his last full season, back in 2016, he appeared in 132 games and posted a .280/.354/.530 slash line with 31 homers and 86 RBIs.

“To be honest, I’m not out here to prove anything to anyone,” he said. “I’m out here to prove to myself, that after three surgeries that I can come back and play the way I know that I can.”

During his lengthy absence, Cespedes admitted he wasn’t sure he could even get back to this point. The postponed season due to the novel coronavirus pandemic helped him immeasurably. He worked out seven days a week, getting up at 5 a.m. in the morning.

“What changed is that I started to feel more motivation, that I could return back to the form I used to be at,” he said.

Cespedes said isn’t concerned about the rust, despite the absurdly long layoff. He has looked good at the plate in at-bats against live-pitching, homering off Seth Lugo and getting a hit against Jacob deGrom, and doesn’t think it will take him long to regain his rhythm.

“With all the years I’ve had of experience in the big leagues, it’s like riding a bike,” Cespedes said. “Once you see it and you start to get used to it, you’ll be able to go on the field and get it done.”

Teammates have raved about the potential of getting back Cespedes. Michael Conforto said he “looks like a monster” and is motivated. Cespedes is just as excited about what the Mets lineup could be with him in it, forming a potent middle-of-the-order trio alongside Conforto and NL Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso.

“I don’t think it’s any secret we have one of the best lineups in baseball,” Cespedes said. “We have everything. We have speed. We have hitters who can hit for power, hitters who can hit for contact. I think if everything goes right, we’re going to be a very good team.”