Beltran started off slow but now he is having a good year. He is one of those players who leads silently. Although he made claims at the start of the season (We're the team to beat) he's the type of player who when he starts putting up numbers, there is a lot going on around him. Maybe that's why he produces when he does, because there is no pressure around him. However you want to define it, his numbers are coming around, and it couldn't be at a better time. By month, these are his numbers:
(From Baseball-Reference.com)
I Split G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS BAbip sOPS+ tOPS+ Split
+-+------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------------+
April/March 26 25 112 90 19 19 10 0 2 13 22 1 21 0 0 0 1 2 2 1 .211 .366 .389 .755 .254 107 76 April/March
May 28 27 123 108 19 33 5 3 3 19 13 2 15 0 0 2 0 2 5 0 .306 .374 .491 .865 .326 134 98 May
June 28 28 121 105 20 30 6 0 7 22 16 2 17 0 0 0 1 3 4 0 .286 .380 .543 .923 .284 144 110 June
July 25 25 115 101 15 25 3 1 3 18 13 3 16 0 1 0 2 1 5 1 .248 .333 .386 .719 .268 90 66 July
August 29 29 126 109 21 33 8 0 6 21 12 3 12 1 0 4 1 1 3 1 .303 .365 .541 .906 .284 136 106 August
Sept/Oct 14 14 60 51 16 19 6 0 5 13 9 1 7 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 .373 .467 .784 1.251 .359 226 181 Sept/Oct
The Hits per month is a great way to start looking at how he is doing. We are little over half done with September, and he has already passed his April/March totals. This shows two things first is that he got off to a slow start, and second, that he is having a great month this month. The big show for this month is his overal average, its fantastic at .373. His power numbers are also starting to approach season highs when compared to the other 2008 months. As September has gone on, Delgado has slowed down a bit, and Beltran is picking up the slack.
Aside from troubles at the start of the season, he struggled in July. But as he struggled in hitting and power in July, his RBI totals were closer to his better months, rather than his bad start. This suggests that he must have been getting singles with RISP or his few doubles/triple/homers must have taken place with runners in scoring position. If he continues his production now, then this will be a great month. At the start of August I thought Beltran had no shot at 100 RBI's let alone 30 Homers, now he has the triple digit RBI's and he has a good chance to get to 30 homers (a goal that became much more realistic after last night).
