If not for an 0-for-3 night back on Sept. 16 against former Rangers prospect Blake Beavan, Adrian Beltre would be the talk of Major League Baseball right now.
If he could've worked a hit that night, Beltre would be in the midst of a 27-game hitting streak.
Now, he has a 7-game hitting streak going and has hit 10 home runs in his last 13 games. In that same stretch, he has 18 RBIs.
He's now up to 30 home runs and 101 RBIs and has his average up to .293 despite missing five weeks from the end of July to the beginning of September.
This is huge for Beltre and the public perception of him.
Throughout his career, he's been known as a "contract-year guy", meaning he plays best when he's playing for a new contract then once he gets his paycheck he slacks.
His career year came in his final year with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004 (the only season Beltre has ever made the playoffs) when he hit 48 home runs and drove in 121 runs with a .334 average.
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In a contract year last season in Boston, Beltre had the most home runs and RBIs since 2004 when he hit 28 bombs and drove in 102 runs while hitting .321.
That brought Beltre here for a five-year, $80 million deal. Prior history would've meant he would slack this year.
Obviously, that's not the case as Beltre has been a huge part of this team's success this season.
