A smashing success: Leandro Cedeno crushing baseballs, expectations with Amarillo Sod Poodles
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If you search the internet for "longest home run ever," you'll quickly learn that it's impossible to verify for certain. They didn't have computers, high-definition cameras or any of the other equipment they do today back then to measure distance.
Since MLB introduced Statcast in 2015, however, it can be known for certain that the longest home run in that time in the Majors was 505 feet. Nomar Mazara, then playing for the Texas Rangers, accomplished the feat. Giancarlo Stanton, when he was with the Miami Marlins, smacked a 504-foot homer in 2016 that is the only other home run to travel more than 500 feet in the majors since 2015.
Leandro Cedeno shattered that number during a Double-A baseball game between two Texas League teams July 17.
Cedeno, the Amarillo Sod Poodles' starting first baseman, crushed a baseball that evening, sending it 527 feet over the left-centerfield wall against the San Antonio Missions at HODGETOWN Stadium.
The accomplishment made Sports Center's Top 10 plays of the day and earned Cedeno mentions at the national level.
“I couldn’t even believe it," he said. "When I got home and looked at my phone, I saw all those things on my social media and thought, ‘Oh my goodness, that was far.’”
Crushing baseballs is something Cedeno has done very well this season. He leads the Sod Poodles in home runs on the season with 22. Add on that he's first in RBI with 69 and hits with 94 while batting .283, and it's safe to say Cedeno is crushing it in most statistical areas.
“He’s done a great job this year," Sod Poodles manager Shawn Roof said. "He got off to a hot start before teams started to pitch him differently. When that happened, he got out of his approach a little, but he’s worked really hard with our hitting coach Travis Denker and assistant hitting coach Ronnie Gajownik. They helped him dial in and buy into that approach. Once he did, he really seemed to take off.
It's not just baseball and numbers that he's crushing, though. Cedeno is also exceeding expectations.
The 23-year old Venezuela native's name won't be found on the list of top 10 prospects in the Arizona Diamondbacks' farm system. Heck, his name can't even be found in the top 30, which is as far down as MLB.com goes.
Cedeno hit free agency in November after playing his entire career in the St. Louis Cardinals' minor league system and was promoted to their Double-A team last season.
Consider all of that, and realize that Cedeno has been the Soddies' best offensive player this season aside from a few guys that are expected to be MLB All-Stars some day. Now, with the extra spotlight, Cedeno could see his stock climb toward the end of the season.
"The team has given me a lot of chances to play," he said. "I feel good here in Amarillo because I’m comfortable here. I don’t want to stay here all season because I want to move up to Triple-A ball, but for the moment I feel pretty good. The fans are good, the managers are good, everybody is good on the team.”
Cedeno's goal is to reach the Majors, and if he keeps up what he's been doing — he could make that dream a reality.
For now, though, he's keeping his mind on doing one thing only.
“I do my job," he said. "I don’t control the decision that they can make. I just do my job and play day by day. I try to be good and try every day to be better. That decision is going to come one day. … I’m just going to keep doing my job and see what can happen.”
This week's series
• Opponent: Springfield Cardinals
• Schedule: 7:05 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 6:05 p.m. Sunday
• Where: HODGETOWN Stadium
• Records: Amarillo 47-54, Springfield 47-54
• What to know: Springfield ranks seventh in the Texas League in team batting average (.255) with Amarillo at the top of the charts and leading the league (.276). The Sod Poodles are second in home runs (134) with the Cardinals in third with (132). Springfield is second in runs scored (601) with the Soddies at the top of the league leaderboards (616). The Cardinals pitching staff ranks seventh in team ERA (5.49) with the Sod Poodles in last-place by a wide margin (6.16).
SOD POODLES STAT LEADERS
* — Stats current as of competition leading into Aug. 7
HITTING
• Average: Roby Enriquez .351; Juan Centeno .304; Leandro Cedeno .283
• OBP: Roby Enriquez .402; Tristin English .393; Jorge Barrosa .379
• Doubles: Eduardo Diaz 22; Jorge Barrosa 19; Drew Stankiewicz 15
• Triples: Eduardo Diaz 2; Jorge Barrosa, Juan Centeno, Roby Enriquez, Ti'Quan Forbes, Elvis Peralta, Andy Yerzy 1
• HR: Leandro Cedeno 22; Juan Centeno 12; Drew Stankiewicz 11
• RBI: Leandro Cedeno 69; Eduardo Diaz 61; Drew Stankiewicz 49
• Runs: Jorge Barrosa 62; Leandro Cedeno 57; Eduardo Diaz 54
PITCHING
• ERA: Blake Rogers 3.43; Jeff Bain 3.89 Mack Lemieux 3.95
• Innings pitched: Slade Cecconi 92 2/3; Deyni Olivero 77; Bryce Jarvis 76.2
• Wins: Jeff Bain 7; Slade Cecconi 5; Kenny Hernandez, Blake Rogers, Blake Walston 3
• Saves: Blake Rogers 8; Jeff Bain 2; Yorvin Pantoja, Ty Tice 1
• Strikeouts: Slade Cecconi 87; Bryce Jarvis 86; Blake Walston 74
• Walks: Bryce Jarvis 40; Deyni Olivero 28; Slade Cecconi 23
Sod Poodles Roster moves
August 2: RF Dominic Canzone assigned to Reno Aces from Amarillo Sod Poodles
August 2: RF Danny Oriente assigned to Amarillo Sod Poodles from Hillsboro Hops
August 2: Brandon Pfaadt assigned to Reno Aces from Amarillo Sod Poodles
August 4: Amarillo Sod Poodles sent SS Blaze Alexander on a rehab assignment to ACL D-Backs Black
August 5: LHP Kyle Backhus assigned to Amarillo Sod Poodles from Hillsboro Hops
Looking back
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2
ROUGHRIDERS 6, SOD POODLES 2
Top performers
Sod Poodles: Roby Enriquez 3-4, SB; Leandro Cedeno 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI; Deyni Olivero 5 IP, 6 H, 3 SO
RoughRiders: Sandro Fabian 3-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI; Blaine Crim 2-4, 1 R; Seth Nordin 4 IP, 3 H, 2 SO
Highlights: Amarillo fell behind 6-0 before scoring two runs late, but couldn't complete the rally.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3
ROUGHRIDERS 12, SOD POODLES 5
Top performers
Sod Poodles: Tristin English 2-4, 1 R; Roby Enriquez 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 R; Bryce Jarvis 5 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO
RoughRiders: Blaine Krim 4-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI; Aaron Zavala 3-5, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 HR; Zak Kent 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 5 SO
Highlights: Amarillo went up 4-0 in the first inning and led 5-3 entering the bottom of the seventh. They gave up six runs in the bottom of the inning and ultimately lost the contest.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4
ROUGHRIDERS 4 SOD POODLES 3
Top performers
Sod Poodles: Jorge Barrosa 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI; Nick Dalesandro 1-4, 1 R; Slade Cecconi 5 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 5 SO
RoughRiders: Justin Foscue 3-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI; Jonathan Ornelas 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 R; Tim Brennan 6 IP, 6 H, 2 SO
Highlights: Amarillo went up 2-0 before surrendering four runs in the bottom of the third. They got back within one in the ninth, but that's all they could do.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5
ROUGHRIDERS 6 SOD POODLES 5
Sod Poodles: Roby Enriquez 2-3, 1 RBI; Ti'Quan Forbes 2-4, 2 R; Blake Walston 6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 SO
RoughRiders: Aaron Zavala 3-4, 1 R, 1 RBI; Blaine Krim 3-4, 1 R; Jack Leiter 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO
Highlights: Entering the bottom of the seventh inning, Amarillo was up 5-2. By the end of the inning, they were down 6-5 and that's the way it would remain.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6
ROUGHRIDERS 11, SOD POODLES 2
Top performers
Sod Poodles: Roby Enriquez 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI; Tristin English 1-3, 1 R; Ross Carver 3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO
RoughRiders: Justin Foscue 3-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI; Jax Biggers 2-3, 2 RBI; Cody Bradford 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO
Highlights: Amarillo fell behind 4-0 early and it didn't get any better from there.
SUNDAY, JULY 31
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Sunday road game between the Sod Poodles and RoughRiders did not finish by the Amarillo Globe-News' deadline. For results, visit www.amarillo.com/sports.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Leandro Cedeno crushing baseballs, expectations with the Amarillo Sod Poodles
