Long home runs, quality at-bats, run production — this is what the Yankees had in mind when they inked Carlos Beltran to that three-year, $45 million deal in the offseason.
It’s just two games, a tiny sample size, but Beltran has returned from his stay on the seven-day concussion list with a bang, producing two multi-hit games, two extra-base hits and two RBIs in a pair of wins over the Reds. It’s just what the Yankees desperately need out of the veteran outfielder if they are going to make a run at the postseason.
It’s no coincidence the Yankees have two victories, including Saturday’s 7-1 shellacking of Cincinnati, and their lifeless lineup has looked more lively.
“[Beltran is] extremely important to us,” manager Joe Girardi said.
The twice-shelved Beltran, 37, suffered a freak head injury on July 9 in Cleveland when a ball hit off his bat during batting practice struck a bar on a protective screen in the Indians’ indoor cage and hit him in the face. It left Beltran with two nose fractures and early signs of a concussion, though on Friday he said it was unclear if he in fact suffered from an actual concussion.
Girardi said he felt Beltran was getting close to hitting his stride before the injury. The time off doesn’t seem to have set him back.
Beltran set the tone for the Yankees’ big afternoon against Reds All-Star Alfredo Simon, slamming an 0-2 breaking ball that hung waist-high into the seats in right field. Later, Beltran added a single and scored a run as the Yankees tacked on three runs in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
“I feel good, I’m seeing the ball good and just getting good results, man,” he said. “Honestly, I believe in my work. I just got to come to the ballpark and do my work. Sometimes you’re gonna go out and have good results and sometimes you won’t have good results. It’s still a long season. So you have to stay focused and come to the ballpark with the mentality of trying to do something positive.”
From the freak head injury to the elbow and forearm problems that have relegated Beltran to designated hitter duty and cost him 22 games, to his struggles at the plate, this isn’t how the former Met imagined his first season in The Bronx would go. Beltran isn’t used to not playing the field — he has been limited to DH duty since May 12 — and it may have thrown him off at the plate, though he hasn’t used it as an excuse.
“It is what it is. I have to come to the ballpark and focus on the things I can control,” he said. “Right now I’m not playing in the outfield. I cannot be thinking about that. I gotta be thinking about DHing, it’s my job, and just focus on that.”
Beltran, however, isn’t ready yet to say he has turned a corner. For now, it’s just two games in which he has gotten desired results.
“We’ll see,” he said. “We’ll see.”