“Just one of those things that I try to avoid every year. So far so good this year.’’
That is probably an understatement. Though it is only seven games into the season, Beltre has had a spectacular start to his Red Sox tenure. Not only has he been excellent on defense — with the exception of a rib-rocking smash into Jacoby Ellsbury in Kansas City — Beltre is the author of the hardest hits on the club, according to his manager. He has collected nine hits in 24 at-bats (.375) with a .777 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
But if you look a bit closer, there’s a little something odd about that latter statistic. Beltre’s on-base percentage is .360, even with his batting average at .375. He has yet to walk, and, in fact, has demonstrated little patience at the plate.
“Sometimes you give up something as a hitter, but what you give up also makes you what you are,’’ Beltre said. “I’ve tried that before, I’ve tried to be more patient, but I don’t do it in the right way. I try to be more patient, but then I count strike one, strike two, so now I’m in the hole. It’s a different situation that you should be aggressive, but you should be patient in the way that you don’t swing at the pitcher’s pitch.
“I’m the type of guy that I feel like I don’t want two strikes. I’m aggressive because I don’t want to be called strike three. That’s when I think that I need to cut back a little bit and be more patient after two strikes. That’s one of the things that I’m trying to do better this year.’’
While the Sox are known as a patient team, a team that sees a lot of pitches, that’s not something that matters to Beltre. Not if he is going to be hitting as well as he is right now.
