Adrian Beltre Wins 2011 Gold Glove Award

On Tuesday, it was announced that with just 11 errors on the season and a fielding average of .965 third baseman Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers had secured his third career Gold Glove beating out Kevin Youkilis from the Boston Red Sox and Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays. His first two Gold Gloves came in 2007 and 2008 when he was with the division-rival Seattle Mariners.

Beltre had some freakishly awesome plays this year including barehanded plays and plays that required him to fall to the ground as he was throwing the ball to first base. I can’t even begin to count the magnificent plays that he made this year and a lot of those plays accounted for that last, important out of an inning or even a game. He did whatever it took to catch the ball and to get that out no matter what it meant for him. Hi range was absolutely spectacular and he honestly made it all look incredibly easy.

Originally, I wasn’t happy about the Rangers signing Beltre during the off-season when he had become a free agent because I was a Michael Young fan, who I felt should stay at third base after being with Texas for 10 consecutive years and being the face of the franchise. However, I think Beltre was an excellent addition to the team and Young’s ability to play any infield position has been incredibly helpful throughout the season and post-season.

Good job Beltre for securing your third Gold Glove award! It was very well deserved!