Mets 6 – Dodgers 4
PORT ST. LUCIE – During batting practice, he blasted one homer after another. Shot after shot over the right-field fence.
Told by an onlooker that it was an impressive round, Carlos Beltran merely smiled.
Maybe Beltran knew the round was just a preview.
Beltran made his spring-training home debut in yesterday’s 6-4 Mets win over the Dodgers at Tradition Field, and he quickly put on a show for the 6,561 fans. In his very first at-bat, the superstar center fielder slammed a two-run homer deep over the right-center-field fence.
Undoubtedly the first of many more to come.
“Ya’ll might as well get ready to start seeing that,” Cliff Floyd said.
Floyd later said he was referring to not just the homer but to “a lot of stuff,” but the Met left fielder is right either way. Beltran is one of those rare five-tool magicians – a player who can dazzle in nearly every conceivable baseball way. And yesterday, he did it with his power.
Sure, it’s still spring training, but Beltran’s shot isn’t to be trivialized. It was the Mets’ first homer of the Grapefruit League season, and it carried approximately 425 feet.
“In BP, I was feeling like my swing was there,” said Beltran, who ripped a career-high 38 homers last year. “I wasn’t trying to do too much [during the at-bat], trying to put the ball in play.”
He did more than that. Said manager Willie Randolph, “He hit the crap out of it.”
With it, Beltran (who also singled yesterday) continues to enjoy a ridiculously hot spring start. In three games, he’s gone 3-for-7 with a homer, three runs, two RBIs and two walks. He’s reached base in five of his nine plate appearances.
“He’s probably in regular season form already,” Randolph said. “He’s a phenomenal player.”
Beltran said last year he had a great spring too – he believed he hit in the .400 range – and that may be a good sign for when the Mets actually begin regular season games. Last April, Beltran enjoyed a sensational opening month in Kansas City, batting .316 with eight homers, 19 RBIs and a .434 on-base percentage.
Yesterday’s shot came pretty quickly for the switch-hitter. Batting lefty against Dodger RHP Edwin Jackson, Beltran stepped to the plate in the first inning with one out and Kazuo Matsui on first.
After Jackson got ahead of Beltran 0-1, he zipped in an inside fastball, and Beltran clobbered a monster drive that landed smack in the middle of the grassy berm beyond the outfield fence.
When Beltran connected, Randolph did not think he caught enough of the ball, a fact that speaks to how deceptive Beltran’s power can be. Indeed, while his numbers testify to his power potential, Beltran’s 6-foot-1, 190-pound frame doesn’t resemble a slugger’s physique. Even during batting practice, Beltran’s drives sometimes seem as if they’re destined to be only pop-ups. . . before they proceed to soar and soar and soar.
“He has that really late bat speed that comes through the zone,” Randolph said. “He’s smooth and then at the end, it’s like a whip almost.”
Beltran’s spring results have been outstanding so far, but he’s far more concerned with his regular season prep.
“Spring training is a time for you to get ready for the season,” Beltran said, though admitting he would like to do well in the exhibition games. “If I don’t get hits, I’m working on something else.”
Said Floyd, “He’s going to do some things that are going to impress a lot of folks. I just want to watch it.”
The left fielder can stay tuned. There should be plenty more to come.