When Yoenis Cespedes shows up for work, New York Mets hitting coach Kevin Long greets him with an odd question. Long is not so meddlesome as to ask him how he slept or what he ate for breakfast. But there is one thing Long wants to know about how Cespedes spent his morning: Did he play golf?

“If he played golf,” Long said, “most of the time he hits a home run.”

In...