Carlos Beltrán

Carlos Iván Beltrán Valdés (; born April 24, 1977) is a Puerto Rican former outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for seven teams from 1998 to 2017. A 9-time All-Star, he hit 20 home runs twelve times and 30 doubles eleven times, with eight seasons of 100 runs batted in (RBI) and seven seasons of 100 runs scored. He was named the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year in 1999 with the Kansas City Royals after batting .293 with 112 runs and 108 RBI, and leading the league's center fielders in putouts and assists. He led the Royals in runs, RBI, triples and stolen bases every year from 2001 to 2003, always with over 20 home runs and twice batting over .300. In June 2004 he was traded to the Houston Astros in the National League (NL), and became the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases after changing leagues midseason. After joining the New York Mets as a free agent, he led the team to a tie for the best record in the major leagues in 2006, posting career highs in home runs (41), runs (127), RBI (116), walks (95) and slugging percentage (.594).

Beltrán was an outstanding player in the postseason, batting .307 with 16 home runs in 65 games and hitting .400 in four different series. He scored 21 runs in 12 games during the 2004 playoffs to set a record for most runs scored in one postseason, despite falling short of the World Series (Jose Altuve tied the record in 16 games in 2021), and 13 years later returned to the Astros for his final season, helping the team win the World Series for his first championship. Beltrán was a member of the Puerto Rico national team that won silver medals in the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics, and was named to the all-tournament team in 2017.

Beltrán won three Gold Glove Awards for his defense, leading AL center fielders in assists three times and NL center fielders once, and leading both leagues in putouts and double plays once each. His totals of 1,334 games, 3,538 putouts, 88 assists and 25 double plays in center field in the 2000s led all major leaguers, with his 108 career assists in center field ranking eighth among players since 1960, and his 28 double plays tied for ninth. With 312 career steals in 361 attempts, Beltrán has the highest stolen base percentage (86.4%) of any major league player with 300 or more career attempts, and he became the fifth player to hit 400 home runs and steal 300 bases. His 273 home runs as a center fielder ranked ninth in major league history when he retired, and his 123 home runs and 516 RBI with the Royals remain team records for a switch hitter. He ended his career with 565 doubles and 1,078 extra base hits, both the second highest totals in major league history for a switch hitter, and also ranked third in RBI (1,587), fourth in home runs (435), total bases (4,751) and at bats (9,768), and sixth in hits (2,725) and slugging percentage (.486).

Beltrán was hired as the manager of the Mets for the 2020 season, but stepped down without managing a game after the Astros sign stealing scandal broke in late 2019. While Beltrán was the only player to be named in the investigation report, the extent of his involvement in the scheme has been disputed. He was briefly an analyst for YES Network in 2022, and has been a member of the Mets front office since 2023. Provided by Wikipedia