NEW YORK — Believe it or not, Yoenis Cespedes can play the guitar, too.
In fact, the way they tell it in the New York Mets clubhouse, he saw a guitar when he was with the Boston Red Sox last year, decided he wanted to play it and learned right away.
The way they tell it in the Mets clubhouse, there's nothing Cespedes can't do.
"I don't think so," Kelly Johnson said this week. "Doesn't his nickname mean 'The Talent'? To me, that kind of says it all, because whatever he wants to do, he can do."
Cespedes brought two nicknames with him from Cuba, and one of them (El Talento) does mean "The Talent" (the other, La Potencia, means "The Power"). Both fit, as the Mets and the rest of the National League are quickly learning.
Is it any wonder New York loves this guy six weeks into his Mets career? Is it any wonder this guy seems to embrace New York right back?
He has power, he has talent, and more than that, he has the swagger and presence to change a lineup and even an entire team. He has the kind of star power that can make him the talk of the town, even when that town is as big as New York.
Cespedes took a roundabout route to get to New York, going from Cuba through Oakland, Boston and Detroit, and there's no guarantee the relationship will survive his free agency this winter. But it sure is working right now.
On July 31, when the Mets got Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers, they were two games over .500, three games out of first place and dead last in the major leagues in runs scored. Now they're 21 games over .500 and 8.5 games up in the division, and since Cespedes arrived, they've scored more runs than any team in the majors.
He keeps saying it's not all him, and he's right. Around the same time they added Cespedes, the Mets added Johnson and Juan Uribe, promoted Michael Conforto and got Travis d'Arnaud back from the disabled list before getting David Wright back as well.
But anyone around the Mets can tell you Cespedes has been at the center of the turnaround. His swagger has become their swagger. His success has become their success.
"Every time we needed him to step up, he stepped up," manager Terry Collins said.
In his first 42 games with the Mets, Cespedes has hit 17 home runs, driven in 42 runs and had people suggesting he should be voted the NL's Most Valuable Player. (For the record, Bryce Harper is still the MVP, but Cespedes deserves a mid-ballot vote.) In his first 40 starts, the Mets went 28-12.
Of course they did.
Cespedes has started 549 major league games since he signed with the A's in February 2012. In those games, his teams have gone 328-221. In all other games, those same teams are 169-214.
"That says it all," said Johnson, Cespedes' Red Sox teammate last year and Mets teammate for the last six weeks.
Last year, the A's had the best record in baseball (and had scored the most runs) when they traded Cespedes to Boston for Jon Lester. They had the second-worst record in the American League after that (scoring the fourth-fewest runs), and after nearly missing the playoffs altogether, they lost to the Kansas City Royals in the Wild Card Game.
When the A's made the playoffs with Cespedes in 2012 and 2013, he batted a combined .350 in 10 postseason games, with a .920 OPS. He did the same thing before he left Cuba, stepping up when he played for his nation in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. In six games, Cespedes went 11-for-24 with six extra-base hits and was named to the All-WBC team.
"It just seems like he rises to the occasion," Collins said.
He can do it in the playoffs, he can do it in a playoff race, and he can certainly do it in New York. It's no surprise Cespedes won the Home Run Derby in 2013 at Citi Field, and it should be no surprise he's starring for the Mets now.
His swagger works here.
"It's not the bad kind, either," Johnson said. "It's not a distraction. There's just an 'it' factor with him. We're lucky to have him."
They're really lucky, because two days before the Mets traded for Cespedes, they nearly traded for Carlos Gomez instead, backing out at the last minute and citing a medical issue. Gomez has something of a swagger, too, but it's nowhere near as effective as what Cespedes offers.
"He changes the dynamic of how you pitch to this lineup," Marlins manager Dan Jennings said. "He's in an environment where he's a key to their success. It looks like he likes that, and he responds in a favorable way."
Part of the Cespedes impact is just what Jennings said, the way pitchers approach the rest of the Mets lineup when Cespedes is in it. Wright mentioned it to reporters Monday night, after he got the go-ahead hit in a 4-3 win with Cespedes on deck.
As John Harper of the New York Daily News tweeted:
The other impact is a result of Cespedes taking on the pressure to succeed. It allows everyone else to relax and just fit in.
"He thrives on it," Mets hitting coach Kevin Long said. "He wants to be that guy in the big spot."
He's made for the big spotlight, made for the big game and made for the big city.
He came to New York, and the Mets started winning. He came to New York, and the Mets became more relevant than they've been in years.
His swagger has become their swagger. His success has become their success.
It really has been a perfect fit.
Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
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