Beltran, Carlos

Selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 1995 draft and signed a contract with the A-team for the Wilmington Blue Rocks newcomers.

Debuted at Major League Baseball on September 14, 1998 in a duel against the Auckland Athletics . Carlos came out made one hit, two wounds and received one wolf. In total, in the first year he went to bat in 15 fights.

The season of 1999, Carlos began the main centerfielder of “Kings”, and after his excellent performance in the middle of the summer he was transferred to the position of the third number in the list of hitters. The first home run was knocked out on April 10, 1999 in a duel against ChiSoks with the filing of Jaime Navarro , who failed his start ^[1] . In the season, Carlos knocked out a total of 22 home runs with 108 RBI and a hit percentage of 0.293. This brought him the award for the best newcomer to the American League.

September 27, 1999 received a strikeout from the Tigers receiver Todd Jones ^[2] , thereby becoming the last player to hit the bat at the Tiger Stadium , which was closed after 87 years and was demolished in 2009.

In the 2000 season, he spent only 98 games due to injury and the subsequent loss of the base place that Johnny Damon took. After the season, Damon was traded to Auckland, Carlos returned to the outfield and proved his worth by knocking out 24 home runs and receiving 104 RBI with a hit rate of .306.

Carlos also remained the team leader for the next two seasons, steadily gaining over 20 homers and over 100 RBIs for the season.

Carlos started the 2004 season incredibly, knocking out 8 home runs and 19 RBIs in April, becoming the best player of the month. This reinforced rumors about his exchange in another team. Subsequently, the owner of the "Kings" confirmed them.

The exchange took place on June 24, 2004. He touched three sides - “Athletics”, “Astros” and “Royals”. Carlos moved to Houston, pitcher Octavio Dotel moved from Houston to Auckland, Royals replenished with two young players - pitcher Mike Wood and third base Mike Tien , inherited from Athletics, and catcher John Buck , who came from Astros.

Before his exchange, Carlos was selected as the starting centerfielder in the All-Star Game 2004 from the American League, however, having moved to the National League, he lost his place, but due to an injury to Ken Griffey Jr. , he replaced him at the start, becoming the first player selected by one league but playing for another.

Houston played quite well, and he needed reinforcement for a successful game in the Postseason. Carlos marked his first participation in it by repeating the 2002 Barry Bonds record, knocking out 8 home runs. He knocked out six of them in a row, starting with the last game in the series with the Braves , knocking out there twice, and knocking out in four games in a row in the Final Series of the National League against the Cardinals. However, Astros lost this series and ended the season.

After the 2004 season, Beltran became a free agent. The main candidate for it was considered the Yankees , but he signed a seven-year contract for $ 119 million with other New Yorkers - the Mets.

In his first season, Beltran became more established, therefore his statistics were not very impressive - 16 homers, 76 RBI and a hit percentage of 0.266. The injury sustained in the fight against the Padres on August 11, 2005, when Carlos bumped into his right-hand outfielder Mike Cameron when both tried to make a diving catch, also contributed to this .

The 2006 season showed that Carlos was comfortable with the new team. The mark of 16 home runs, knocked out in the previous season, Carlos overcame June 2. His achievement on grand slam is also impressive , having knocked out the maximum blow of two games in a row, July 16 and 18, against the Cubs and Reds , respectively. And in the games on July 29 and 30, against the Braves, he knocked out two home runs in each, and in the latter it was also a grand slam ^[3] .

Having beaten 41 home runs of the season, Carlos repeated the Metov record for this indicator, which was set in 1996 by Todd Handley . Carlos also achieved significant success in fielding, allowing only two terrors, and having a fielding percentage of 0.995. After the season, he became the owner of Golden Glove Award in NL as a centerfielder and Fielding Bible Award, also in this position. In voting for the MVP of the league, he was fourth, after winner Ron Howard , as well as Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman . In the same season, Carlos participated in the Postseason for the second time, but his team, like two years ago, lost to the Cardinals National League Final Series.

In the seasons of 2007 and 2008 , Carlos repeated his reputation, knocking out 33 and 27 home runs, respectively, and having 113 RBI in each of them. On August 29, 2008, in a duel against the Marlins , Kevin Gregg knocked out a grand slam at the top of the 9th inning, pushing the Mets ahead with a score of 5-2. The game itself after the bottom of the inning ended in victory, but with a score of 5-4 ^[4] . In 2008, Beltran was again won by Golden Glove and Fielding Byble ^[5] .

Having missed part of the 2009 season due to injury, Beltran took part in only 81 games. April 24, 2009, with the filing of Scott Olsen , Carlos knocked out a triple that brought him the 1000th RBI ^[6] .

On January 13, 2010, Carlos underwent a knee operation performed by the personal doctor Beltran ^[7] , which outraged the Mets, as they did not agree on their statements ^[8] , but the player’s agent claimed that an agreement was received ^{[9 ]} .

Beltran played the first game of the season on July 15th.

On May 12, 2011, Carlos knocked out three double home runs in a game against Rockies . In his career, three homers in one mast succeeded for the first time, for Metov he was only the eighth player to do this.

On July 28, 2011, Carlos was traded to the San Francisco, and the young hope of Zach Wheeler set off in the opposite direction. The Meta also transferred 4 million to the Giants to hold 6.5 million of Carlos’s contract, which ended after the season ^{[10] [11]} .

On September 14, 2011, Carlos knocked out two home runs from the Padres pitcher Matt Latos . By this he reached the 20th home run of the season and 300 in his career.

December 22, 2011 Carlos signed a two-year contract for $ 26 million with the Cardinals. The contract also contains an item at which it cannot be exchanged for another team ^[12] . St. Louis needed a good batter after Puchols left, and they found him in the face of Beltran.

On May 14, Carlos was named a player of the week in the National League. From May 7th to 13th he knocked out 6 home runs and made 13 RBI ^[13] .

On June 15, in a duel against his first team, Royals, he became the first switch hitter in the history of Major League Baseball to make 300 home runs and steal 300 bases. He became the eighth member of the club 300-300 ^[14] .

On June 29, in a duel against Pirates , knocking out a single in the third inning, Carlos hit 2000 hit points, becoming 270 player in Major League Baseball to achieve this. The next day, he knocked out his 400 double, becoming the 170th player to do so.

Carlos is the cousin of outfielder Raymond Fuentes ^[15] , a player in the Padres system.

Created the “Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy”, located in Puerto Rico, teaching children from 14 to 18 years old.

Lives mainly in Port Washington, in New York, and Manati, Puerto Rico.

• Player Profile Mlb.com. Date of treatment October 6, 2012. Archived December 13, 2012.
• Player Profile Espn.go.com. Date of treatment October 6, 2012. Archived December 13, 2012.
• Player Profile Baseball-reference.com. Date of treatment October 6, 2012. Archived December 13, 2012.