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Carlos Beltran
From BR Bullpen
Carlos Ivan Beltran
- Bats Both, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1", Weight 190-205 lb.
- High School Fernando Callejo High School
- Debut September 14, 1998
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[edit] Biographical Information
Carlos Beltran has made six All-Star teams (through 2011).
Despite being considered a very good power hitter at the major league level with 9 20-homer seasons through 2011, Beltran struggled with power in the minor leagues. During the 1995 and 1996 seasons spent playing for both the GCL Royals and Lansing Lugnuts, Beltran went 222 at-bats without a home run. In fact, at the time of his big league call-up in 1998, Beltran had accumulated only 37 home runs in 1,230 minor league at-bats.
He was married three days before being named 1999 AL Rookie of the Year. In 2003, he became the first Kansas City Royals player to hit 20 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season.
In 2004, Beltran was the first player in major league history to have 50 RBI in each league during a season; Manny Ramirez later followed suit. He finished the season with a combined 38 homers and 104 RBI, then was red-hot in the postseason, hitting 4 home runs in the NLDS, as the Houston Astros defeated the Atlanta Braves, then slugging another 4 in a losing effort in the NLCS.
For a time, Beltran had the highest stolen base percentage among players with at least 100 stolen base attempts, although he has since fallen to second behind Chase Utley, stealing at a clip of 87,7% over his career.
Carlos was the last New York Mets player to hit a home run at Shea Stadium. Mid-way through the last season of a seven-year contract with the Mets, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants on July 27, 2011 in return for pitching prospect Zack Wheeler. Overall, he played 839 games in New York, hitting 149 homers; he missed large chunks of both the 2009 and 2010 seasons because of injuries, but came back to make his 6th All-Star team in 2011, before the trade. Unfortunately, just at the time the Giants most needed his help with the bat, Beltran strained a hamstring on August 7th, then missed a number of games before the team relented and placed him on the disabled list. He came back on August 24th and hit his first homer for his new team, off Tim Stauffer of the San Diego Padres in a 2-1 win that day. He finished the year hitting a combined .300, with 39 doubles and 22 homers in 142 games, convincingly showing that his health issues were behind him.
Beltran became a free agent again after the 2011 season and on December 22nd agreed to a two-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals worth $26 million. He was to play right field for the Cardinals in 2012, with RF Lance Berkman moving to 1B to replace the departed Albert Pujols. He made his debut on Opening Day at the Miami Marlins' new ballpark on April 4th. He recorded the first hit and scored the first run in the history of Marlins Park, singling in the 1st inning and coming around to score on David Freese's single to put the Cardinals on their way to a 4-1 win. On June 29th, he picked up the 2000th hit of his career. He went on to have another solid season, hitting .269 in 151 games, with 32 doubles and 97 RBI. He also scored 83 runs and made the All-Star team for the 7th time. He then went 1 for 4 and scored a run when the Cardinals defeated the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card Game, and went 8 for 18 with 3 doubles and a pair of homers to lead his team to a win over the Washington Nationals in the NLDS. He contined on the same run in the NLCS, going 3 for 7 with 2 doubles and a homer in the first two games against the San Francisco Giants, but had to be removed from the game after the 1st inning of Game 3 on October 17th, victim of a knee injury when he grounded into a double play in his first at-bat.
His cousin Reymond Fuentes was a first-round draft pick in the 2009 amateur draft.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 1999 AL Rookie of the Year Award
- 1999 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
- 7-time NL All-Star (2004-2007, 2009, 2011 & 2012)
- 3-time NL Gold Glove Winner (2006-2008)
- 2-time NL Silver Slugger Award Winner (2006 & 2007)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 10 (1999, 2001-2004, 2006-2008, 2011 & 2012)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 4 (2004, 2006, 2007 & 2012)
- 40-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2006)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 8 (1999, 2001-2004 & 2006-2008)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 7 (1999, 2001-2004, 2006 & 2008)
| AL Rookie of the Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
| Ben Grieve | Carlos Beltran | Kazuhiro Sasaki |
[edit] Records Held
- Stolen base percentage, career, 88.3
