Texas Rangers: Adrian Beltre Is Returning To The Lineup

Adrian Beltre is returning to the Texas Rangers tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays. Beltre has been out with a calf injury since Spring Training. While Joey Gallo who’s filling in for him at third base is playing very well, the team still truly misses him and needs him back.

Beltre, 38, is entering this season as the all-time hit leader among players born in the Dominican Republic with 2, 942. If this season, he makes it to 3,000, he’ll officially be the first Dominican player to have 3,000 career hits. No doubt he’ll achieve his goal and he’ll provide for the Texas Rangers as he’s been doing since arriving back in 2011.

According to Jeff Wilson, Joey Gallo will play first base tonight due to Beltre’s activation. Wilson further states Beltre is playing third base. Wilson reports Mike Napoli is out tonight due to back stiffness, so Gallo is filling in at first base.

More from Texas Rangers News

• Early 2023 MLB mock draft has Texas Rangers selecting an Ohtani-lite
• 3 Texas Rangers outfield trade targets not named Bryan Reynolds
• Did Jacob deGrom really mean what he said at his Texas Rangers press conference?
• Martin Perez accepting the qualifying offer looking like solid deal for the Rangers
• 4 outfielders the Texas Rangers can still pursue this winter

The Washington Posts’ Stephen Hawkins says the Rangers waited until Beltre went through all warm up drills along with batting practice. In other words, they made sure he didn’t suffer any ill effects. Smart move.

At the moment, Texas is 25-26 and in third place in the American League West standings. They’re 10.5 games behind the first place Astros. The offense has struggled for much of the season. Texas is 24th in the league in hits, 11th in runs scored, and eight in home runs.

With Beltre back on the lineup, things may finally begin to change. While Beltre may be 38 years of age, he’s still got a great ability. In other words, he’s still got it! Last year, he won his fifth Gold Glove award, as well as being named Texas Rangers Player Of the Year. And again, he’s 58 hits away from being the first player from the Dominican Republic to reach the 3,000-hit milestone.

Plenty of baseball left to play, but the Rangers must start a new winning streak. No more playing around. No more games. It’s now time for them to be serious.