New York Yankees: Carlos Beltran is finally starting to hit

It may have taken longer than the New York Yankees would have hoped, but Carlos Beltran is finally starting to hit.

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Beltran was signed last offseason with the hopes of him being a clutch middle of the order hitter. Injuries were a big part of Beltran struggling in 2014, as he only played in 109 games. In 2014, Beltran hit just .233 with 15 homeruns, and 49 RBIs, which were numbers that were all down from 2013.

The Beltran the Yankees saw in 2014 was a shell of the Beltran that played in 2013 for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2013, Beltran hit .296 with 24 RBIs, and 84 RBIs. Beltran is 38-years-old now, but that kind of drop in production was significant, and hopefully just due to him not being healthy.

In 2015, the Yankees hoped a healthy Beltran would produce right away, but that didn’t happen. To start the season, Beltran was in the middle of the Yankees order, mostly batting in the three-hole, but a slow start would make his time their short.

In April, Beltran hit just .162 with seven RBIs, and 21 strikeouts. The slow start for Beltran was not good, as the Yankees were counting on him to bounce back. The saving grace for the Yankees however has been others picking up Beltran’s slack.

The top of the Yankees order has been great so far this season. Both Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner are off to a fantastic start setting the table, steal bases, and scoring runs. The new middle of the order of Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez has provided the power, with both players playing much better than expected.

It comes as a bit of a shock to see the Yankees’ lineup producing like it is, as many wrote the older lineup off as all being done.

For Beltran, as the weather has begun to warm up, so has he.

In May, Beltran is hitting .324 with two homeruns, seven RBIs, and only four strikeouts. In just 11 days in May, Beltran has already had more hits than he did in the entire month of April. Towards the end of April, Beltran was showing signs of breaking out of his slump, and once May hit, so did Beltran.

In 10 games in May, Beltran has gotten a hit in eight of them, with four multi-hit games. In his last two games, Beltran has found his power with a homerun in each game. Beltran was recently moved up to the second spot in the order as Ellsbury was given a day off. Beltran will likely be the Yankees’ sixth hitter when everyone is in. If Beltran hits like he did in St. Louis, having him in the sixth spot of the order will provide the Yankees with great lineup depth.

Beltran hitting like the back of his baseball card will help improve an already surprising Yankees’ lineup, as they continue to look to lead in the AL East.

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