Juan David Yepez (born February 19, 1998) is a Venezuelan

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022.

Career

Atlanta Braves organization

Yepez signed with the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

as an international free agent in July 2014. The next year, he made his professional debut with the Rookie-level

Gulf Coast League Braves The Florida Complex League Braves are the Rookie-level affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Braves. The team plays at CoolTod ...

before being promoted to the

Danville Braves The Danville Braves were a Minor League Baseball team in Danville, Virginia. They were an Advanced Rookie-level team in the Appalachian League and were a farm team of the Atlanta Braves. The Braves have played home games at American Legion Post 3 ...

of the Rookie-level

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from ...

in August. Over 59 games between both clubs, he batted .299 with four home runs and 31 RBIs. In 2016, he was assigned to the

Rome Braves The Rome Braves are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They are located in Rome, Georgia, and play their home games at AdventHealth Stadium. From 2003 to 2020, the team served ...

of the Class A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

, but played in only 23 games due to injury. He returned to Rome to begin the 2017 season.

St. Louis Cardinals

On May 20, 2017, Yepez was traded to the

in exchange for

Matt Adams Matthew James Adams (born August 31, 1988) is an American professional baseball first baseman in the Washington Nationals organization. Nicknamed "Big City" for his imposing size and ability to regularly hit long home runs, the St. Louis Cardina ...

. He was assigned to the

Peoria Chiefs The Peoria Chiefs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The team was established in 1983 as the Peoria Suns. They are located in Peoria, Illinois, and are named for the Peori ...

of the Class A

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

, with whom he finished the year. Over 116 games between the two clubs, he slashed .265/.308/.388 with eight home runs and 62 RBIs. To begin the 2018 season, he was assigned to Peoria, and was promoted to the

Palm Beach Cardinals The Palm Beach Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in the town of Jupiter in Palm Beach County, Florida, and play their home games at Roge ...

of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

in early May. Over 92 games, he hit .269 with three home runs and 42 RBIs. Yepez spent the 2019 season with Peoria, Palm Beach, and the

Springfield Cardinals The Springfield Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springfield, Missouri. They compete as a member of the Texas League's North Division. The Cardinals began play in 2005. The team is owned by the 11-time Major League Baseball ...

of the

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

, batting .269 with ten home runs and 43 RBIs. Yepez did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He was assigned to Springfield to begin the 2021 season and was promoted to the

Memphis Redbirds The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbir ...

of the

Triple-A East The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

after 19 games. Over 111 games between the two teams, Yepez slashed .286/.383/.586 with 27 home runs, 77 RBIs, and 29 doubles. The Cardinals named him their Minor League Co-Player of the Year alongside Jordan Walker. He was selected to play in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fill ...

(AFL) for the

Glendale Desert Dogs The Glendale Desert Dogs are a baseball team that plays in the West Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. The ballpark is also the spring training facility of the Chicago White ...

after the season where he was named to the Fall Stars Game. He ended the AFL with a .302/.388/.640 slash line with 15 extra-base hits and was named the league's Hitter of the Year alongside J. J. Bleday. On October 6, 2021, the Cardinals selected Yepez's contract and added him to the 26-man roster for the 2021 National League Wild Card Game, but he did not make an appearance. He returned to Memphis to begin the 2022 season. The Cardinals recalled Yepez to the major league roster on May 3,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

. Yepez made his major league debut the next day against the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

as the starting right fielder, and hit a double off

Kris Bubic Kristofer Bubic (born August 19, 1997) is an American baseball, professional baseball pitcher for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Amateur career Bubic attended Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California, where he ...

in his first at-bat. He recorded another double in his second at-bat, becoming the first player in Cardinals history to hit two doubles in their first game. He hit his first career home run off

Jakob Junis Jakob Benjamin Lee Junis (born September 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 29th round of the 2011 Major League Bas ...

against the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

on May 8, 2022. On June 27, he had his first career multi-home run night, hitting two two-run home runs versus the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

. Yepez hit the third of a record-tying four consecutive home runs between teammates on July 2, 2022, the 11th such occurrence in major league history. At

Citizens Bank Park Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. It is the home playing field of the Philadelphia Phillies, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. The stad ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Nolan Arenado Nolan James Arenado (; born April 16, 1991) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Arenado is widely recognized as an elite third baseman, both offensively and defensively. ...

Nolan Gorman Nolan Brian Gorman (born May 10, 2000) is an American professional baseball second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Gorman was drafted by the Cardinals out of high school i ...

, Yepez and Dylan Carlson all homered off

Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citizen ...

starter

Kyle Gibson Kyle Benjamin Gibson (born October 23, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillie ...

with two outs in the first inning. It was the first time that the Cardinals had accomplished the feat, and the first time that it occurred in the first inning.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yepez, Juan 1998 births Living people Baseball players from Caracas Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball first basemen St. Louis Cardinals players Gulf Coast Braves players Danville Braves players Rome Braves players Peoria Chiefs players Palm Beach Cardinals players Springfield Cardinals players Memphis Redbirds players Glendale Desert Dogs players