Ronnie Cedeno

When I was a kid growing up, the Houston Astros had a rookie outfielder who was expected to be a huge star in the major leagues. In fact, he was a huge star, but never quite reached superstar status.

Cedeno played seventeen years in the bigs, including twelve in Houston. The Astros, during the seventies and eighties, played in the celebrated Astrodome. It was a wonder of architecture, but a curse for would be power-hitting outfielders. Some big guys were able to make it work, such as Bob Watson and Jim Wynn, and Cedeno did hit 199 home runs. We can only imagine how many he could have hit playing in Atlanta or for the Cubs in Chicago.

Cesar Cedeno was from the Dominican Republic. Ronnie Cedeno is no relation. He is from Carabobo, Venezuela. It was just a year or more ago that Ronnie Cedeno was a celebrated addition to the Chicago Cubs infield.

Just as Cesar Cedeno wowed the home crowd in Houston close to forty years ago, everyone was rooting for Ronnie Cedeno. We wanted the farm system, which had only produced Corey Patterson in recent years in terms of hitters, to produce someone who had all-star quality. Cedeno was going to play some awesome shortstop and provide some offensive punch as well.

By the end of 2006, fans had tired of Ronnie. One blog has nicknamed him “E-6”. Some put the blame for the futility of the 2006 season on Cedeno’s arm. It was a poor throw from short to first that allowed the Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal to slam into star first baseman Derrick Lee, break his wrist, and have the team lose a cornerstone of the offense for the year.

Some even blame Cedeno for costing Dusty Baker his job. I am not certain I can go that far.

With the trade for another Cesar, shortstop Cesar Izturis, Cedeno was converted to second base and was expected to spend a year in Iowa. From potential star to potential has-been in a little more than a year seemed to be the direction for the young man.

A good season of winter ball and a fine spring, with tutoring from star former shortstop Alan Trammel, has breathed new life into Cedeno. Like Theriot before him, Cedeno was promised a spot on the roster and seems to have used that news to turn into a superman.

Hitting .315 with three home runs this spring, including a walk-off three-run bomb today, Ronnie is reminding fans why they liked him a year ago. He still strikes out some, but his number of walks is up this spring.

Baseball is a funny game. Like the old Sinatra song, “riding high in April; shot down in May” could still apply. In the meantime, let us remember that he is just twenty-four and has a lot of baseball in him. He could be the next Dave Rosello, Shawon Dunston, or Ernie Banks. He may be the next Cesar Cedeno of the infield variety. We are the lucky ones who get to watch and see what happens. I am hoping the sky is the limit for this young man. The clock starts again Monday.