It appears that 38 year old Carlos Beltran has found the fountain of youth and isn’t sharing with the rest of us. To say he is off to a hot start doesn’t do it justice. In his 12 games, he has a .333/.340/.600 slash line to go along with his three doubles, three homers, eight RBIs and 11 K’s. In Saturday’s loss to Seattle, I could have sworn I was watching Bryce Harper at the plate. He was the offense, going 4-5 with a double, a homer and brought in the Yankees’ two runs. It was his first four hit game in pinstripes and first since May 2012 with St. Louis. His resurgence has been fun to watch.
“Right now, I feel good at the plate,’’ Beltran said. “This is a game that when things are working good, you have to take advantage, because I know in the period of the 162 games, you’re going to go through a lot of ups and downs. So right now I’m seeing the ball well and I’m just getting good results.”
Getting good results indeed. Through all of April last season, he was batting .162/.216/.265 with no homers and 21 strikeouts. Rising like a Phoenix from the ashes, he has put the team’s offense on his back and said, “let’s go.” And with the team’s recent struggles with RISP, Beltran’s hot bat is a godsend.
“Right now, things are not working for us with guys in scoring position. We all are trying to go out with the mentality of putting a good at-bat and trying to get the guy in, but right now, it’s not working.”
His performance as of late forced Joe Girardi to drop Alex Rodriguez from the three spot, just to take advantage of the scolding hot Beltran.
“I’m trying to take advantage of Carlos swinging the bat extremely well, too,'” Girardi said. “Carlos has been consistent; he has been hot. You’re trying to take advantage of that. Sometimes moving a guy will help them relax a little bit. Not that I Think Alex needs to relax, but sometimes just shaking up a lineup once in a while can help a little bit.”
It seems every game he’s moving up the ranks of one record book or another. So far this season he has: tied Babe Ruth for 54th on the all time doubles list (506), tied for 51st on the RBI list (1,450) with Jim Rice, moved to 11th on the hits list for a switch hitter (2,469), and moved to 59th on the all time home runs list (395.)
The season is still young and a cool off is inevitable, but it’s great to see a player of Beltran’s caliber be rejuvenated.
