On Monday, following Adrian Beltre’s home run in the fifth inning that completed the cycle, his home run trot would suggest he had done it before. That’s because he had. Indeed, last night was the third cycle Beltre had hit during his 18-year big league career, only the 4th player in history to hit that mark.
Beltre continues to impress consistently and quietly with his play in the field. He is often overlooked as one of the top players in the league and part of that could be because he’s been doing it for so long!
He debuted as an 19 year old kid for the Dodgers in 1998. Since then he has shown durability and longevity (averaging 143 games a season) to go along with consistency, (26 HR, 91 RBI per season). While he might not be the first name that pops into your brain when you think of active potential Hall of Famers, but he should. Last night was just a reminder of how good he has been and how long he has done it. Don’t buy it? Read on…
If you ask any good baseball fan about Adrian Beltre possibly the first thing they will say about him is his fielding. His offensive feats are impressive and we’ll get to them, but his glovework is a rarity in baseball history. Expertly manning third base, Beltre has regularly reminded people of the Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt of yesteryear and, in the process, has won four Gold Gloves. The only thing that kept him from having more was Scott Rolen while Beltre was in the National League and Eric Chavez when Beltre was in the American League.
A sabermetrician may point to the lesser used Total Zone Runs metric to demonstrate how good Beltre has been fielding his position over his career. Total Zone Runs refers to the “number of runs above or below average the player was worth based on the number of plays made.” The best of all-time among third basemen is unsurprisingly Brooks Robinson, while Beltre holding the ninth position. Of all-time!
| Rank | Player (yrs, age) | Total Zone Runs as 3B | Throws |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Brooks Robinson+ (23) | 293 | R |
| 2. | Buddy Bell (18) | 167 | R |
| 3. | Clete Boyer (16) | 162 | R |
| 4. | Robin Ventura (16) | 154 | R |
| 5. | Scott Rolen (17) | 150 | R |
| 6. | Graig Nettles (22) | 134 | R |
| 7. | Gary Gaetti (20) | 132 | R |
| 8. | Mike Schmidt+ (18) | 129 | R |
| 9. | Adrian Beltre (18, 36) | 120 | R |
| 10. | Terry Pendleton (15) | 99 | R |
An impressive list to say the least. Obviously Beltre’s the only active player on the list, so look for him to move up a couple spots before he’s all done.
Offensively, Beltre has put up historically great numbers for a third baseman. Furthermore, his consistency is nearly unmatched. Beltre is fifth all-time among third baseman in homers with 404, trailing only Mike Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, Chipper Jones, and Dwight Evans. It’s conceivable that he may pass Jones before his career his over (Jones had 468). Beltre is fifth in RBI, fifth in hits (and has a good chance to reach 3,000, he is at 2,697), fourth in doubles, top 10 in slugging, and top 15 in OPS. Any other player who has their standings at their position would be an automatic for the Hall of Fame.
Now for the clinching argument. JAWS. JAWS was developed to do exactly what we’re trying to do: measure a player’s Hall of Fame worthiness. In short: “a player’s JAWS is their career WAR averaged with their 7-year peak WAR.” The top-4 are synonymous with some of the greatest third baseman of all-time: Schmidt, Mathews, Boggs, Brett. Ron Santo is seventh, Brooks Robinson is eighth, and Paul Molitor is ninth. All seven of those players are currently in the Hall of Fame. Fifth is Chipper Jones, an another automatic selection when he’s eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2018. And in sixth place is Mr. Adrian Beltre! Indeed, Beltre is right the midst of greatness and should be rewarded for it upon his retirement from baseball. (View the top-500 3B JAWS leaders here)
Beltre has never won the MVP award although he was runner-up in 2004, while with the Dodgers, losing to Barry Bonds (who, by the way, walked 234 times that season!). He is a four-time All-Star and a four-time Silver Slugger winner. He has only played in 22 playoff games, inclued a trip to the World Series in 2011 with the Rangers where he did this:
But of course, his lack of playoff acumen is not his fault by any stretch of the imagination.
Baseball is a game that almost solely relies on numbers. That’s why it’s the greatest sport in the world. Everything is quantifiable using numbers. When it comes time to talk about the Hall of Fame, numbers dominate the debate and for good reason. There is not anyone who could look strictly at Beltre’s numbers and in relation to current Hall of Famers and the greatest players at his position and honestly say he doesn’t deserve to be elected into Cooperstown.
For those still skeptical about his relevance on the all-time stage, this tweet might be able to put his overall skills in perspective:
Only two players in MLB history have been worth +190 batting runs AND +190 fielding runs: Roberto Clemente and ADRIAN BELTRE.
— High Heat Stats MLB (@HighHeatStats) July 21, 2015
Anytime you are on a list only with Roberto Clemente, you’re doing something right.
