New York Mets all-time greatest players born in Puerto Rico

Carlos Beltran

There are currently four Puerto Rican born players in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Edgar Martinez will enter the hall in July which would make it a total of five. In a couple of more years, it’s hard to imagine they won’t add a sixth name to the list. That player who could join them is Carlos Beltran.

Beltran, who was born in Manati, Puerto Rico, was a major splash of a free agent signing for the Mets for the 2005 season. Beltran wasted no time making an impact as he had an All-Star season in 2005 and followed it up with an MVP caliber 2006 season as he finished 4th in the balloting.

In 7 seasons with the Mets, Beltran was an All-Star five times. He was an integral part of the 2006 Mets who went on to appear in the NLCS and came just 1 game shy of moving onto the World Series.

Many Mets fans are not too happy with Beltran as he did watch a called third strike from then Cardinals reliever Adam Wainwright with the bases loaded, which ended the Mets playoff run. But Met fans should understand that if it wasn’t for players like Beltran, the Mets would not have even been in the playoffs that year.

Beltran did suffer many injuries during the latter half of his Mets career, but the numbers are still really solid to consider him one of the greats. In just 7 seasons Beltran managed to have the 7th most doubles in Mets history (208), 6th most home runs (149), and 6th most RBI (559). Not bad for just 7 seasons in the orange and blue.

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 No doubt, Beltran and the other Puerto Rican born players were major contributors over the years. In the future, expect many more from the Island to come and help this team win ball games.