Adrián Beltré

Adrián Beltré Pérez (born April 7, 1979) is a Dominican former professional baseball third baseman. During his career, Beltré played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is regarded as one of the greatest third basemen of all time.

Originally signed as an amateur free agent, Beltré made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1998 at age 19. He batted and threw right-handed. Beltré hit a major league-leading 48 home runs while playing for the Dodgers in 2004, was the team MVP of the Red Sox in 2010, played in the 2011 World Series as a member of the Rangers, and tied for the major league lead in hits in 2013. On September 19, 2014, Beltré surpassed Vladimir Guerrero as the all-time MLB leader for hits by a Dominican player, a record since broken by Albert Pujols in 2019. On July 30, 2017, he became the 31st player in MLB history to reach 3,000 hits and the first Dominican player to achieve that milestone. Beltré retired following the 2018 season with 3,166 career hits, 477 home runs, and 1,707 runs batted in. He hit for the cycle three times in his career (2008, 2012, 2015), making him one of six players to do so in MLB history.

Having played 21 major league seasons and won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award five times, Beltré is notable for his defensive prowess and career longevity as well as his power hitting. He played in four MLB All-Star Games and won the Silver Slugger Award four times. Upon his retirement, Beltré was the only third baseman in history with both 3,000 career hits and 400 home runs. According to Baseball Reference, Beltré is also the third baseman with the third-highest WAR all time. He retired as the all-time leader amongst third basemen in career hits and RBIs, and ranked third in home runs amongst third basemen. He is also the fifth major-leaguer to have hit at least 100 home runs for three different teams. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2024.