By Yusseff Díaz
Drawing comparisons to Derek Jeter and Carlos Correa, Yiddi Cappe was one of the most exciting international prospects available before his signing with Miami. Here’s what you need to know about Cappe and how talented they young Cuban could be.
The 17year-old from Artemisa, Cuba is your prototypical big shortstop standing at 6’4” and weighing about 170 pounds. The young Cuban, due to his somatotype he has drawn those comparisons to New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter and Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa.
I actually asked Cappe about being compared to Correa and the Hall of Fame shortstop and he said, “I’m proud that I have been compared to these to stars. Jeter is the leader of the Marlins and Correa is a current-day example for me to follow.”
Cappe has a smooth fluid swing and makes a lot of quality contact. The young infielder has a good understanding of the strike zone and power to all fields. The young phenom started playing baseball at the age of eight.
Cappe also starred in the Cuban juvenile circuit. The infielder has been working tirelessly day and night to improve his craft, saying, “I’ve been working nonstop on my throwing to the bases and on my movements within the infield.”
He is represented by Yolfri Sánchez and is trained by Welling Herrera who is based in the Dominican Republic before joining the fish. The Miami Marlins signed Cappe on January 15th of this year for the sum of $3.5M. “I trained at the Herrera academy. My training regiments included batting practice against live pitching so I didn’t lose my timing and a plethora of defensive drills, including a long throw drill.
I asked Yiddi Cappe about the difference in the way he trained in DR in comparecen to his daily routine in Cuba. According to the young prospect, it was day and night…”In DR my workouts are rigid and a lot harder in the sense of how strenuous they are. In Cuba one trained to reach the Cuban National Series or represent the island in International events. In DR one trained to accomplish their dreams of reaching the Majors.”.
The Marlins signee has improved greatly since his defection from Cuba and is ready to make an impact at whatever level he commences his career, “I have improved greatly since my arrival. In Cuba, I didn’t have the best conditions to train or training regiments. Thank God all has gone well since my arrival here.” He also quipped this to me on his future with the fish, “I never had a favorite MLB team in Cuba, but I do now in the Marlins. For them I will give my all.”
Cappe’s Grades on the 20-80 scale:
• Hitting: 55
• Power: 55
• Speed: 55
• Arm: 60
• Fielding: 50