Opinion: Beltran’s Power Outage
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Mets only have four home runs from the 
clean up spot in their batting order this season, all by Carlos Beltran, which is the lowest total in the National League.
For some reason, I’m not overly shocked by that fact. I should be, but I’m not. I expected Beltran to have a few more home runs at this point in the season, but with the way the season has transpired and the inconsistency from the offense as whole, it’s just not that surprising to me.
the fact is, Beltran has only hit 30 home runs three times in his 11-year career (2004, 2006 and 2007), and he has not been the prototypical clean up hitter and is more suited to bat second or third in a lineup.
However, for the past year and half the Mets haven’t had that classic ‘clean up hitter,’ and have been forced to bat him fourth. I believe the lack of a quality, consistent bat behind Beltran has allowed teams to pitch around him, which is evident by the number of walks he has taken this season – it’s the leading cause for his 2008 power outage.
Beltran is not alone in this department, though, since the Mets as a team have only hit 43 home runs this season, which is 12th in the National League. The league average is 50. To me, the Mets lack of power isn’t that surprising given the makeup of this team, which has clearly not been built around power, but around a speed-oriented small ball.
That being said, though, I believe the Mets – when healthy – would be more suited to plug Beltran in the two-hole and go with a lineup as follows: Jose Reyes, Beltran, David Wright, Ryan Church, Moises Alou, Carlos Delgado, Brian Schneider and Luis Castillo. This lineup allows for more balance and each spot fits each players abilities.
However, no matter the lineup, don’t expect Beltran or the team to have a resurgence in power, they’re just not built that way.
