Yoenis Cespedes' 3-HR Outbreak Shows He's Worth Every Penny of $110M to Mets

Yoenis Cespedes crushes baseballs.

Savvy fans didn't need a reminder, but they got one Tuesday when the New York Mets outfielder cracked three home runs in a 14-4 drubbing of the Philadelphia Phillies. 

It was the second three-homer showing of Cespedes' Big Apple tenure, making him the first Mets player to accomplish the feat.

He also became the second-fastest player to reach 50 homers with the Mets. The 197 games it took him to reach the milestone put him between Dave Kingman (164 games) and Mike Piazza (208 games), per ESPN Stats & Info. 

More essentially, Cespedes served notice that he's worth every penny of the four-year, $110 million contract New York handed him this past November. 

The mashing Cuban came into the game hitting just .154 through seven contests. Even with small-sample caveats, it wasn't a great look.

Prior to Tuesday's outburst, FanRag Sports' Paul Lebowitz was seriously asking if the Mets offense was too reliant on Cespedes' pop.

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It's a fair question. An early power surge by veteran Jay Bruce could fade, and other key contributors such as Jose Reyes and Lucas Duda (who homered twice Tuesday) are the opposite of sure bets.

On Tuesday, however, Cespedes reminded the baseball world why he's not just any hitter.

We're talking about a hyperathletic, two-time All-Star who finished eighth in National League MVP voting in 2016 and has hit 66 homers in the last two seasons combined. 

Now, at age 31, he's retaking the reins on a Mets team that won the pennant in 2015 thanks in part to his lumber but fizzled in the NL Wild Card Game last fall.

"His work ethic this year is off the charts," said young outfielder Michael Conforto, per the Associated Press (h/t CBS New York). "He's taken a leadership role [in the outfield]. He's all about having fun out there and making plays. And he's a fun-loving guy."

Fun-loving, maybe, but Cespedes is also looking to win his first ring after previous stints with the Oakland A's, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers.

The projection systems are optimistic, if not over the moon, with Steamer projecting a .264/.322/.482 slash line and 28 home runs and ZiPS foretelling a .266/.317/.498 line with 30 homers.

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New York has the foundation with its superlative starting rotation, headlined by budding ace Noah Syndergaard and the injury-comeback brigade of Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler et al.

But after ranking 25th in baseball in runs scored last season, the Mets need an offensive jolt.

Cespedes probably can't do it alone. Then again, on Tuesday, he looked like he could.

His three home runs and double off the center field wall all qualified as "barrels," which MLB.com defines as a batted ball with an exit velocity of at least 98 mph and a launch angle between 26-30 degrees. 

In the Statcast era, that feat has been achieved only three other times, as Statcast highlighted on its official Twitter feed: 

Clearly, Cespedes has found a home in Gotham. After years as a hired gun, he's settled down for the remainder of his prime.

"I love the energy of the city," Cespedes said, per Newsday's Anthony Rieber. "The fans and I just hit it off from the beginning. The city has so many great Cuban restaurants, too. I can always find a good place to eat. New York City is the big stage, and I enjoy playing on the big stage."

Cespedes has 110 million reasons to say nice things. As the only player to land a nine-figure contract in this winter's weak free-agent class, he's got expectations to meet, though his deal looks like a relative bargain next to, say, the eight-year, $184 million pact outfielder Jason Heyward signed with the Chicago Cubs in December 2015.

Mostly, Cespedes has a long season to remain healthy and productive.

He played 132 games in 2016 while battling a quad issue, his lowest total since 2012. The injury bug could bite again.

For now, he's on top of the world in the sport's biggest market.

"Don't think for one second this guy's not going to have a huge year," manager Terry Collins said, per James Wagner of the New York Times. "This guy is dynamite." 

True to form, he blew up against the Phils. Expect more detonations.

All statistics current as of Tuesday and courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.