Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes joins Athletics

He said he’d like to hit at least .280 but as far as power, all he had to say was, “I expect good numbers.”

Cespedes and his agent, Adam Katz, declined to go into details of Cespedes‘ defection from Cuba.

Asked if he thinks he’ll miss his homeland, Cespedes said, “I have family members in the Dominican and that gives me a chance to have good communication with them.”

Amid all the buzz, one of his teammates wasn’t excited to watch him hit Sunday.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really care about his BP,” fellow outfielder Jonny Gomes said. “I’ve played long enough to see some of the best BP not make it out of A-ball, you know? But yeah, I’m just curious to see his talents and how they come over into the game.”

Gomes said he knows all about being an outsider trying to fit in after playing winter ball in Mexico earlier in his career, so he said he expects Cespedes‘ adjustment to be more off the field than on it.

The stadium, he said, will be his sanctuary.

“At the end of the day, it’s still baseball,” Gomes said. “There’s nine innings, six outs to an inning, and the home runs count.”

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