6th Place—The Old Third Sacker
3B Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers
6.2—Fangraphs WAR (7th in AL)
6.4—Baseball-Reference WAR (11th in AL)
4.2—Fangraphs WPA (6th in AL)
4.0—Baseball-Reference WPA (6th in AL)
640 PA, 89 R, 32 HR, 104 RBI, 1 SB, .300/.358/.521, 130 wRC+
Adrian Beltre’s consistent greatness may lead him to be underappreciated. He is like a fine wine, he just gets better with age. He had a momentary down season last year, when his on-base percentage dropped below .350 for the first time in four years. It was also his second consecutive season with fewer than 20 home runs. He rebounded in a big way this year. His 32 home runs were the most he’s hit since 2012 and his 104 RBI were the third-most of his long career. He also continues to be an above average fielder at third base.
He also makes the game fun. Beltre and teammate Elvis Andrus act like annoyed big brother and annoying little brother, with Andrus constantly antagonizing Beltre. They battle over their turf on pop ups to the left side of the infield and Andrus is always trying to touch Beltre’s head, which Beltre hates. And there’s no doubt it was Andrus who orchestrated the Rangers’ reaction in this video when Beltre hit a home run in 2013.
Beltre is 58 hits away from 3,000, so he should achieve that milestone sometime next year. He’s also 55 home runs away from 500. If he reaches both marks, he’ll join an elite group of just five players with 3,000 career hits and 500 career home runs.