Texas Rangers Adrian Beltre May Play for Dominican Republic in WBC

Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre may play for the Dominican Republic in the 2017 World Baseball Classic and it would be a wonderful thing for baseball fans.

Adrian Beltre has been around a while. He came up as a 19-year-old with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1998 and just completed his 19th big league season as a 37-year-old for the Texas Rangers. According to Fangraphs WAR, he was worth 6.1 wins above replacement in 2016, making his age-37 season the fourth-best of his career. He hit .300/.358/.521, with 32 homers and 104 RBI and helped the Rangers win the AL West for the second year in a row.

Recently, Jeff Wilson tweeted that Beltre is considering playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. At his age, this is likely Beltre’s last opportunity to play in the WBC. Baseball fans everywhere should hope that Beltre plays in the tournament because any baseball tournament would be more fun to watch with Adrian Beltre participating.

Beltre played for the Dominican Republic in the inaugural tournament back in 2006, when he was a wee lad of just 27 years old. The team finished in fourth place and Beltre was named the third baseman on the All-WBC team. He was the only player from the Dominican Republic team to earn that distinction.

He did not play for the 2009 WBC team that was shocked in the opening round. That Dominican Republic team was considered one of the favorites before the tournament began, but they lost their first game against the Netherlands, 3-2. They battled back to beat Panama, 9-0, but were eliminated by the Netherlands in another close one, a 2-1 loss.

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In the elimination game, someone named Tom Stuifbergen shut the Dominican Republic out for four innings, then turned it over to the bullpen. Stuifbergen is listed at 6’3”, 270 pounds at Baseball-Reference.com. He’s a mountain of a man. He pitched in the Minnesota Twins organization until 2013, but has spent the last three years playing in the Dutch Major Leagues for the Corendom Kinheim. It’s likely that his four shutout innings in the 2009 WBC will forever be the highlight of his career.

After Japan won the first two World Baseball Classic tournaments, the Dominican Republic flexed their muscles in 2013 and won their first title. Adrian Beltre was expected to play on that team, but a calf injury kept him out of the tourney. It turned out they didn’t need him. They had five players on the All-WBC team, including Edwin Encarnacion, Robinson Cano, Jose Reyes, and Nelson Cruz. Robinson Cano was the MVP of the tournament.

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In the qualifying rounds for the upcoming 2017 WBC, there were four teams who played in the tournament in 2013 who had to earn their way back into the 2017 tourney because they finished last in their groups—Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain. Australia and Mexico earned their way back into the tournament, while Colombia and Israel will replace Brazil and Spain. The WBC starts next March in host countries Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and the U.S. Let’s hope that Adrian Beltre is playing in it.