Texas Rangers: Recapping Adrian Beltre’s 2017 season

2017 was one heck of a roller coaster of a season for Adrian Beltre. While the Texas Rangers struggled and had a bad season, Beltre showed a lot of heart and played very good baseball, despite missing a lot of time due to injuries.

Beltre began 2017 on the disabled list due to an injury suffered during Spring Training. Beltre went on to miss the first two months of the season. He made his 2017 debut on May 29th against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Texas Rangers struggled without him.

On Thursday, August 31st in a 5-1 loss against Houston, Beltre again got injured and it was thought he’d be done for the year. He would be diagnosed with a grade 2 strain in his hamstring. Beltre did end up returning to the lineup on September 13th, despite being expected to miss at least four weeks.

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Despite, the injuries, 2017 was one Beltre’s best seasons. On July 30th, Beltre recorded his 3,000th career hit. Reaching 3,000 career hits allowed Beltre to become the first player born in the Dominican Republic to achieve this goal. He also became the 31st player to reach 3,000 career-hits. Furthermore, he joined Ichiro Suzuki and Rafael Palmeiro as a player born outside the United States to reach the 3,000-hit milestone.

This season, Beltre became the 17th player to reach 600 doubles. On June 27th, Beltre blasted his 450th career home run in a 2-1 win against Cleveland.

Beltre is the fourth player in MLB history to reach 3,000 hits, 600 doubles, and 450 home runs. All three of these milestones were achieved this year. So it’s safe to say that perhaps 2017 may be his best despite the Rangers having a rough season.

A World Series victory is the only thing that’s missing from Beltre’s list of accomplishments. Beltre’s signed through 2018. Next season may be his last chance. If the Rangers were to have another rough season, it’s possible that Beltre will want to sign elsewhere to continue his pursuit of a World Series ring. Beltre expressed his disinterest to be part of a rebuilding team. If 2018 is a turnaround season for Texas and Beltre is happy, then it’s possible he’ll stay.

Beltre’s mentality can tell us that he won’t hang up the cleats until he wins a World Series.