After missing the first part of Texas Rangers spring training with a sore calf, third baseman Adrian Beltre decided to pass up a chance to play with the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic to try to heal up and be ready to play for his home country in the second round of the tournament.
Now, that's off the table as Beltre has decided he won't join the Dominican team in the second round as he said his swing isn't ready to take the step up in competition from spring training to the WBC.
“I still don’t feel like my swing is there,” Beltre told The Dallas Morning News. “They are doing pretty well. I’m not at that competition level yet.”
That's good news for the Rangers on two fronts — Beltre's calf seems to be better and he's now going to be focusing on his duty with the Rangers and not his home country.
So far this spring, Beltre is hitting just .250 with four hits in 16 at-bats since making his debut once his calf healed.
