page_title: Carlos Beltrán
section_title: 2012
hierarchical_section_title: Carlos Beltrán / Professional career / St. Louis Cardinals / 2012
caption_attribution_description: Carlos Beltrán
context_page_description: Carlos Iván Beltrán is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball from 1998 to 2017 for the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, and Texas Rangers. A right-handed thrower and switch hitter, Beltrán stands 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 215 pounds.
  Beltrán was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1999 while with the Royals. He was named to nine MLB All-Star Games, and won three Gold Glove Awards and two Silver Slugger Awards. Beltrán was the fifth player to reach both 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases and just the fourth switch hitter with 400 home runs. He has the highest success rate in stealing bases of any major league player with 300 or more career attempts. He also joined the 30–30 club in 2004. Beltrán retired after the 2017 season, winning a World Series title with the Houston Astros.
  Beltrán was among the best all-time statistical hitters in postseason games, which has earned him nicknames such as "The New Mr. October", "Mr. October, Jr.", "Señor Octubre", and "the real Mr. October" from the media.
context_section_description: On December 22, 2011, Beltrán agreed to a two-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals worth $26 million which included a full no-trade clause. After Beltrán signed with the Cardinals, he attained numerous milestones, personal as well other firsts.
  On April 4, 2012 Opening Day, Beltrán recorded the first-ever hit in a regular season game at Marlins Park against Josh Johnson of the Miami Marlins.  Beltrán was named NL Player of the Week on May 14 after he hit .360 (9-for-25) with six home runs, 13 RBIs, eight runs, 30 total bases for a 1.200 slugging percentage and 1.648 OPS in the previous six games. He hit safely in five of the six games and homered in four of them.  It was his ninth career weekly award, and sixth in the NL.
  On June 1, in his first game in New York after leaving the Mets, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.  In one notable moment, a Beltrán batted ball touched the outside part of the foul line but was ruled a foul ball in a game in which former teammate, Johan Santana, was credited with throwing the first no-hitter in Mets' history.  Two weeks later, on June 15, while batting against another former team in the Kansas City Royals, Beltrán stole second base in the second inning to become the first switch-hitter in MLB history to attain 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases, and the eighth player overall.
  In a June 29 home game versus the Pittsburgh Pirates, he recorded a single in the third inning for his 2,000th hit, becoming the 270th player in MLB history to do so. The day after he got his 2,000th hit, Beltrán collected his 400th double, becoming the 170th player to do so. Beltrán also participated in that year's Home Run Derby.
  The Mets announced on June 18, 2012, that Beltrán was selected as the starting center fielder for 50th Anniversary Mets All-Time Team.
  In the 2012 National League Wild Card Game, his first postseason game since 2006, Beltrán had 1 hit in 4 at-bats, scoring a run in the 4th inning. In the NLDS against the Nationals, Beltrán went 8-18 at the plate with 2 home runs and 4 RBI. Down 5-7 in the 9th inning in game 5 of the NLDS, Beltrán hit a leadoff double off of Drew Storen, eventually scoring two outs later on a Daniel Descalso single. The Cardinals would win the game 9-7.
  In the 2012 National League Championship Series, Beltrán batted .300 with 2 RBI and 2 stolen bases. He played in 6 of the 7 games in the series, missing most of game 3 and all of game 4 after suffering a knee injury. Playing in his 3rd NLCS game 7 in his career, Beltrán went 1-4 at the plate as the Cardinals lost 0-9 to the Giants.
caption: Beltrán batting for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012
exif: {}