Kansas City's Carlos Beltran strives to improve his talent: Royals outfielder working hard to be the best he can be—as a fielder, base runner and hitter

Baseball Digest, July, 2004 by Mel Antonen

OUTFIELDER CARLOS BELTRAN faces now-or-never season in Kansas City, so he's doing everything possible to help the Royals make the playoffs.

Carlos Beltran is expecting a big year ... and not just because it's a contract year.

That includes help with collecting $85,000 from teammates to pay for a weird-looking machine that spits out tennis balls at 140 mph, designed to improve a batter's eye. The contraption is a cross between a blowtorch ad chain saw. It has an orange canister, a vacuum-thinner motor and a five-foot tube that rests on a tripod.

"We asked the team and they liked the idea, but the general manager said he works within a budget and didn't have the money to pay for it," Beltran said. "So Juan (Gonzalez) and are I took up a collection. It's going to help us see the ball better."

Beltran, 26, is one of baseball's best-kept secrets. He's never been to an All-Star Game or played in the postseason. He's never won a Gold Glove. But he's gotten into the habit of revising switch-hitting history each season.

In 2002, his 80 extra-base hits beat Mickey Mantle's single-season A.L. record of 79. Last season, he was the first switch-hitter to average at least .300 with 25 home runs and 40 steals. Never mind that no one knows about it.

"Most people think that if you are not an All-Star, you are not a good player," Beltran says. "I hear all the time what it would mean if I played in a big city. I don't expect people to know who I am. I pray to God in the morning and at night to help me be a good player.

"But I want a normal life where I can go to the grocery store and movie theater. I want to walk around the mall. When you are famous, you can't do that."

Beltran is most likely in his final season as a Royal. After the season ends, he'll be a free agent. General manager Allard Baird says the team will not have enough money to sign him to a long-term contract.

Beltran has only played for the Royals organization, which drafted him out of high school in 1995.

If the Royals hadn't contended in the American League Central last season, Beltran might have been gone. Nine teams called the Royals to talk about a trade for Beltran.

Royals fans plead with Beltran to stay when they see him at the team's spring complex. Beltran, whose salary is $9 million for this season, takes a matter-of-fact approach: "It doesn't make me sad. Baseball is a business. The team will do whatever is best for the team. I have to think of my future and what makes me happy."

Beltran put together one of the best seasons in Royals history last season when he helped the Royals get their first winning record (83-79) since 1994. He missed the first 14 games with a strained oblique muscle but led the team in average (.307), runs scored (102), home runs (26), RBI (100) and steals (41).

Baird was impressed Beltran could put aside uncertainties: "Going into last season, he thought that he was going to be traded. There's some mental toughness. Not everyone can do that."

Beltran is one of six players who have had a .300 average, 100 RBI and 40 steals in a season, joining the recognizable names of Barry and Bobby Bonds, Joe Morgan, Jose Canseco and Alex Rodriguez. Also, Beltran's stolen-base percentage of .882 (150-for-170) is the all time best among players with at least 100 steals.

Beltran, from Manati, Puerto Rico, is soft-spoken and the kind of guy that bought his parents--his father, Wilfredo, is a retired pharmaceutical salesman--a house and a car as Christmas presents. Beltran likes deep-sea fishing. He cooks and he can spend six hours a day playing computer baseball.

Over the winter, he used his own computer image and wound up with a .350 average: "Maybe it's an omen," Beltran says.

This season, with a lineup that's added Gonzalez, a two-time A.L. MVP, Beltran was to steal 50 bases, hit 30 home runs and improve on his .307 average. And he wants to avoid his usual slow start. (He has a career .252 average during the first month, 17 points lower than his next-worst month.)

"I don't do well in cold weather," Beltran says. "I have to get that out of my mind."

Beltran stands in the batting net and takes 100 tennis balls a day from the machine he's helping to purchase. The training is for Beltran to focus his eyesight on the ball and try to determine the number on the ball and whether or not it had a black or and dot in it.

"As a player, you try to do better than the year before," he says. "Usually it takes me a long time to get ready at the plate. This spring, I'm feeling more ready than I've ever felt."

Switch-Hitters with Most Extra-Base Hits, Season

Year   Player, Team                  EBH

2001   Lance Berkman, Astros          94
1934   Ripper Collins, Cardinals      87
1999   Chipper Jones, Braves          87
1989   Howard Johnson, Mets           80
2002   Carlos Beltran, Royals         80
1956   Mickey Mantle, Yankees         79
1996   Ken Caminiti, Padres           79
2002   Lance Berkman, Astros          79
1989   Ruben Sierra, Rangers          78
1990   Bobby Bonilla, Pirates         78
2000   Jose Vidro, Expos              77
1961   Mickey Mantle, Yankees         76
1991   Howard Johnson, Mets           76
2001   Chipper Jones, Braves          76
2001   Jose Cruz, Jr., Blue Jays      76
2000   Chipper Jones, Braves          75
1991   Ruben Sierra, Rangers          74
1996   Todd Hundley, Mets             74
1955   Mickey Mantle, Yankees         73
1995   Bobby Bonilla, Mets/Orioles    73
2000   Bernie Williams, Yankees       73
2001   Ray Durham, White Sox          72
1989   Bobby Bonilla, Pirates         71
1998   Tony Clark, Tigers             71
1980   Eddie Murray, Orioles          70
2000   Carl Everett, Red Sox          70

Carlos Beltran's Career Batting Statistics

Born: April 24, 1977 in Manati, Puerto Rico

Bats: Both

Throws: Right

Height: 6-0

Weight: 175

Year     Team         AB       2B   3B    HR     R   RBI    SB     BA

1998     Royals       58        5    3     0    12     7     3   .276
1999     Royals      663       27    7    22   112   108    27   .293
2000     Royals      372       16    4     7    49    44    13   .247
2001     Royals      617       32   12    24   106   101    31   .306
2002     Royals      637       44    7    29   114   105    35   .273
2003     Royals      521       14   10    26   102   100    41   .307
Totals   6 years   2,868      137   43   108   495   465   150   .288