Be Nice to Carlos Beltran (and Delgado too)

8/29/07

by Jimmy Russotto

Is Carlos Beltran the biggest head case of them all?  Possibly.  After hearing Gary Cohen harping on the huge disparity between Carlos Beltran’s home and away batting statistics, I decided to take a look myself at Carlos’s stats going all the way back to his playing days at Kansas City to see for myself whether the pattern was repeated throughout all those years.

The following are Beltran’s numbers going back to 1999:

 

  

 

G

AB

R

HR

RBI

AVG

OBP

SLG

OPS

 Home

2007

Mets

53

190

25

6

32

0.268

0.368

0.442

0.810

 Away

 

 

60

242

44

19

52

0.273

0.347

0.579

0.925

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home

2006

Mets

66

232

61

15

38

0.224

0.368

0.487

0.855

 Away

 

 

74

278

66

26

78

0.317

0.406

0.683

1.090

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home

2005

Mets

79

295

36

6

34

0.275

0.341

0.403

0.745

 Away

 

 

72

287

47

10

44

0.258

0.317

0.425

0.743

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home

2004

KC/HOU

78

284

50

15

41

0.225

0.316

0.458

0.774

 Away

 

 

81

315

71

23

63

0.305

0.412

0.629

1.041

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home

2003

KC

71

249

51

10

45

0.333

0.417

0.498

0.915

 Away

 

 

70

272

51

16

55

0.283

0.362

0.544

0.906

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Home

2002

KC

81

326

66

19

64

0.288

0.352

0.546

0.898

 Away

 

 

81

311

48

10

41

0.257

0.340

0.453

0.793

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall

2001

KC

155

617

106

24

101

0.306

0.362

0.514

0.876

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall

2000

KC

98

372

49

7

44

0.247

0.309

0.366

0.675

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall

1999

KC

156

663

112

22

108

0.293

0.337

0.454

0.791

As you can see, Beltran’s numbers are indeed much better away from New York., especially his power numbers.  Although he has played 7 more away games this year, that still wouldn’t account for the difference between 6 homers at home and 19 homers away from home.  As you can see, in 2006 the disparity was even more pronounced, especially in the rbi department, with a whopping 78 away ribbies vs. only 38 at home.  In 2005, his first year in NY, the numbers are much closer.

So I wondered, were their other factors to account for the difference, like Shea vs. the average ballpark?  Very possibly, that could account for some of the power numbers difference. Shea is a pitchers ballpark after all, but the BA itself being so much better on the road would seem to dispute that theory.  I did research the dimensions of both Kaufmann Stadium in KCY and the Rogers Centre in Toronto and their dimensions are almost identical to those of Shea, about 330 down the lines, about 375 in the power alleys and between 400 and 410 in center.

It’s also interesting to note that in Kansas City, Beltran’s numbers home and away are much more comparable and actually better at home than away.  His OPS numbers especially seem to indicate a strong preference for his home ballpark in Kansas City.

The other figures show Beltran’s overall numbers from 1999, his first full year in the big leagues to 2001 and are included only to show Beltran’s relative consistent excellence when playing a full season. (In 2000, he only played 98 games).

So what’s the point of all this?  Be nice to Carlos Beltran !!  He’s a great clutch hitter, a terrific centerfielder and a pretty fair base runner.  In fact, if he stole 2nd a little more and 3rd a little less, he’d be a great base runner.  As he plays just about every day, he’s almost always a little nicked up and his base running suffers accordingly.  It doesn’t however, affect his play in the field.  This is a guy who loves to play ball and show what he can do, but NOT for an unappreciative audience.  Here’s a guy who broke his face after running head-on into Mike Cameron and only missed a couple of weeks!

It might also be of interest to note that Carlos Delgado’s numbers show the same marked difference between home and away stats, at least for 2007, with an OPS about 120 points higher on the road.  His 2006 home and away figures show the same disparity.  And it was great to see Delgado’s home run two nights ago after the fans cheered him in a crazy spontaneous outpouring of love and hope.  This after a few games of spirited booing.

Delgado is also a great leader and clubhouse guy, a pretty nice first baseman, and although he’s always been a streaky hitter, he’s never experienced the long and repeated slumps he’s had here in NYC.

Both Carlos’s, I might add, are from small towns in Puerto Rico and are perhaps accustomed to fans being a little nicer. Other key Mets like Wright and Reyes have nearly identical numbers both home and away.  They are both terrific personalities of course and fans seem to be more tolerant of their little peccadilloes. 

So be nice to the Carlos’s.  It could be the difference between winning the World Series and NOT!

 

Copyright Jim Russotto August 29, 2007