Carlos Beltran

Carlos Ivan Beltran is a professional baseball player from Puerto Rico who plays as an outfielder. An all-round athlete since his childhood, Beltran played numerous sports including volleyball and baseball, these being his favourites. Beltran went to the Fernando Callejo High School from where he was signed upon graduation, as one of the five tool players picked by the Kansas City Royals.

Beltran was picked at 45th overall, in the 2nd round of the 1995 MLB Amateur Draft.

Beltran was sent to the Gulf Coast Royals in the rookie league in 1995, a part of the Kansas City Royals’ farm system. He rose up the ranks steadily, reaching the Kansas City Royals by 1998, at the age of 21. With 58 at-bats under his belt, Beltran had a batting average of .276, prompting a call to the Spring Training session of 1999. Beltran began 1999 with the MLB outfit again, hitting at .293 over 663 at-bats. Beltran was named to the All-MLB and American League All-Rookie teams and also went on to win the American League Rookie of the Year award with 22 home runs, 27 stolen bases and 108 RBI to his name.

Injury hit Beltran in 2000, lowering his batting average to .247 over 98 games only. Johnny Damon came in to take his center field position and only after Damon was traded out, in 2001, did Beltran go back to his usual position. With his position, Beltran also got back his batting touch and hit 24 home runs with 101 RBI at a batting average of .306, through 2001.

A slight dip in 2002, which meant 105 RBI, 29 home runs and a batting average of .273, later Beltran was back in devastating batting form in 2003, hitting at .307 with 26 homers and 100 RBI.

Despite slow starts to all his MLB seasons, Beltran would always make up for the pace during the remaining part of the season. In 2004, he had an exception when he was named as the American League Player of the Month for April.

The Kansas City Royals were unable to meet the demands of Beltran’s contract and were forced to trade him out to the Houston Astros at the end of 2004. Beltran was named to the starting lineup of the American League All-Star team for the 2004 All-Star Game. However, post-trade, Beltran was now in the National League, unable to get into the already decided lineup. A lucky break in the form of an injury to Ken Griffey Jr. gave Beltran the chance to take his spot in the team. This was the first time that a substitute played for an All-Star team after being selected for the opposing lineup.

During the playoffs in 2004, Beltran hit 8 home runs to tie with Barry Bond’s single post-season record.

At the end of 2004, a haggard Beltran became a free agent, with teams running after him for his five tools – fielding, throwing arm, hitting average, power and steals. With the Yankees in the forefront of the race, there was a mismatch with what they were offering to Beltran, and his demands. Despite a $20million discount from the player, the Yankees decided to back off, allowing the New York Mets to swoop him up for $119 million over 7 years – the biggest ever in their history.

After 151 games in the 2005 season, Beltran injured himself when he crashed into Mike Cameron while both players were diving in for the ball. With a concussion, temporary loss of vision as well as two broken cheek bones, Beltran was out for the remainder of the season, occasionally struggling with Vertigo. Throughout 2006, Beltran had a tough time after injuring his quadriceps. His bat speed fell and his average was at its lowest ever with .266. His 16 homers, 78 RBI and 17 stolen bases were also lower than his usual figures but that didn’t stop him getting named to the All-Star team for the second time.

At the 2006 World Baseball Classic, Beltran turned out for Puerto Rico.

Beltran was named to the 2006 All-Star Game, his third appearance, alongside 5 other Mets’ players. Beltran had multiple hits along with two stolen bases during the game, standing in an entire team of stars. Beltran hit three grand slam home runs in 2006 to become only the third Mets player to do so. Two of these three came in consecutive games. He ended 2006 with a .275 batting average and 41 home runs with 116 RBI. Beltran had 127 runs as well as 18 stolen bases to his name through the season while also going on to win the Gold Glove Award.

The following year, Beltran again started slowly, the slow period lasting until July, the longest he had ever had. However, like always, Beltran raised his game and ended the season with a .276 batting average as well as 112 RBI. He got his fourth call to the MLB All-Star Game while a second Gold Glove award came his way as well. Beltran had 33 home runs in the season.

In 2008, he batted at .284 while hitting 27 homers with 112 RBI. Beltran won his third consecutive Gold Glove award but fell short of playing in his 5th All-Star game.

On 2009, Beltran got his 1000th RBI while getting named to his 5th All-Star Game. He batted through the season at .325 despite struggling with a knee injury in January 2010. There was controversy regarding the surgery as the Mets claimed that the surgery was done without their approval. Beltran however was adamant that the Mets had given their consent for the procedure.