If Carlos Beltran were to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, which he probably should be, it could be the ultimate case of winning a bronze medal without a specific team cap.
Over 20 seasons in the major leagues, Beltran left an indelible impact on nearly every one of the seven franchises he played for, achieving All-Star-level, if not superstar-level performance in many of them.
From the baby-faced prospect’s rise to superstardom in Kansas City, to a six-month rental stint followed by a stellar postseason run in Houston, to seven incredible seasons with the New York Mets, including five as an All-Star. From his days as a mercenary to his days as a mercenary, Beltran always left his mark.
Of course, it wasn’t always perfect. He put in a brave performance with the San Francisco Giants in 2011, trying in vain to defend the World Series title. That failure cost a young pitching prospect in Zach Wheeler.
And Beltrán’s penchant for the dark arts of the game drew him into the game in its final destination, Houston, where he would eventually become a World Series champion, but help engineer a sign-stealing operation on par with the Astros’ rivals. It left a stain. However, they had the misfortune of being caught.
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It’s not a complex legacy. But it’s always something worth exploring.
in the case of
Let’s start with the basic traditional plateau. Only 20 players in Major League history have matched Beltran’s 435 career home runs and at least 2,700 hits. Except for those waiting to be eligible to vote (Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols) and a handful of people with strong ties to performance-enhancing drug use (Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez). All of them are in the Hall of Fame. Indeed, when broken down by metrics such as adjusted OPS, Beltran ranks tied for 18th out of a group of 20 players. Still, being sandwiched between Andre Dawson and Adrian Beltre is never a bad thing.
And that’s before you consider Beltran, a three-time Gold Glove Award-winning center fielder, perhaps the preeminent switch hitter of his era, and a nine-time All-Star selection. The WAR tally supports Beltran’s case as well. He earned 70.1 bWAR in his career, tied for 69th all-time with Hall of Famer Scott Rolen and just one-tenth behind the enshrined Gary Carter.
Of the modern-day players above Beltran on that list, the only two players untainted by PED connections and ineligible for Hall selection are second basemen Bobby Grich and Lou Whitaker. , and the latter had long been considered a notable despiser.
Beltran didn’t win a World Series championship until his final season with Houston, but his playoff resume tells a different story: Beltran batted .307/.412/PA in 65 total postseason games. He posted a .609 line and hit 15 home runs in 215 games. -Bat. His first game with Houston, acquired in a June 2004 trade from the struggling Royals, was a 12-game masterclass. He had eight home runs, 11 extra-base hits, and a 1.157 OPS as the Astros defeated Atlanta and St. Louis. Heading into Game 7 of the NLCS, aiming to play in the World Series for the first time.
lawsuit against
The most hardline voters may look at those career numbers and drop Mr. Beltran in the “borderline” bucket. That may mean an automatic no-no for some.
Perhaps that’s too harsh an approach, as his first three seasons with the Mets included an All-Star appearance, but injuries limited him to 64 and 81 games in his final two full seasons in Flushing. , Beltran seemed to pick up even more detractors.
X factor
Beltran has been on the game’s radar since 2020, when his role as mastermind of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in 2017 was exposed and he lost his job as Mets manager before the start of his first spring training with the club. It’s getting difficult. Beltran was more of a player-coach at that point, but he worked with then-bench coach Alex Cora to plan the game.
Even though Cora and former Astros manager AJ Hinch have returned to the dugout following Cora’s firing and Hinch’s one-year suspension, respectively, Beltran, who is just two years Cora’s junior, still has new players. He has not been given the opportunity to direct.
It’s hard to imagine that Mr. Beltran’s role in the scandal will ruin his chances at Cooperstown, but perhaps he’s an absolutist against likely or confirmed PED users within the Hall. It is likely that he lost the votes of hardliners who would take a stand.
voting trends
This is Beltran’s third year on the ballot, and he received 46.5% of the vote in his debut in 2023, steadily rising to 57.1% in his second round. He currently has 80.6% of the 133 publicly available votes on Ryan Thibodeau’s Hall of Fame tracker, just over the required 75%, but that doesn’t take into account the often stingy private voting. If this happens, support may weaken.
conclusion
As the aforementioned polling data shows, Beltran should be on the borderline of taking office in 2025. If he fails this time, he will become the de facto winner, and with seven more chances to vote, voters are likely to tilt even further in Beltran’s favor. As it evolves.
Beltran fans shouldn’t book their accommodations for summer 2025 just yet, but that day will come soon, regardless of which hat he wears.
