Adrian Beltre at-bat in San Antonio in 1998. (Photo taken by Steve Parkhurst)
June 23, 2023
By Steve Parkhurst
Twenty-five years ago tonight, June 23, 1998, then Dodgers prospect Adrian Beltre made the improbable one-way trip from AA San Antonio to the big club in Los Angeles.
The next night, the steady march to Cooperstown for Beltre began in Dodger Stadium. Beltre hit the first pitch he saw as a major leaguer into left field for a double and an RBI. Beltre added another base hit that night in the Dodgers 6–5 win over the Angels.
Just 19 years old, but at the time everyone around baseball thought he was 20. Even at 19, he was a young 19, having just celebrated a birthday in early April. Beltre was the first Dodger to make the leap from AA to LA since Mariano Duncan did the same in 1985.
Beltre only played 64 games with the San Antonio Missions, but that limited sample size left an impression as he hit .321 with 13 home runs, 56 RBI, 21 doubles, and 20 stolen bases.
Before heading to Los Angeles, there was the matter of the game to be played that night in El Paso. In the case of Beltre, he did not play in that final game, though he stayed with the team until the final out.
Why Beltre did not play in that final game with San Antonio is a story for another day.
Well before the game, Missions manager Ron Roenicke was on the phone with new Dodgers General Manager Tommy Lasorda. Lasorda was telling Roenicke he wanted Beltre in Los Angeles, if he was healthy. Beltre missed 20 games during his AA stint, 10 days for an injury to the left ankle followed by 10 days for an injury to the right ankle.
There was a back and forth between the two men on the telephone. Beltre’s talent was not among the topics being debated.
As would be expected, what Lasorda wanted and what the Dodgers needed won out.
Ron Roenicke called Beltre into his office in El Paso’s Cohen Stadium. Hitting Coach Lance Parrish was in the office as well. Beltre had a bit of a dour look on his face, the result of something else in the works at the time. However, the news Beltre heard about the phone call with Lasorda quickly put the classic Beltre smile across his face.
Naysayers wondered aloud if it was too early or too soon to bring Beltre to the show.
In the immediacy of the moment, Jon Pont, the hitting coach for the El Paso Diablos was quote by Shana Newell for the El Paso Times, “He’s probably far and away the best defensive player at any position — ever.” Pont continued, “There are only two guys that I’ve seen at their position, that are as good as Beltre defensively — J.T. Snow and Todd Landry. Those are the type of guys who win you games with their gloves.”
Lasorda was always an advocate for Beltre. Shortly after Beltre’s promotion to Los Angeles, Earl Bloom quoted Lasorda in the Orange County Register, “If you bring them up and they do the job, do you still say it’s too early?”
Ralph Avila, who at the time oversaw the Dodgers’ Dominican Republic operations and was also one of the scouts who encouraged the Dodgers to sign Beltre in 1994, was quoted by Robert Kuwada for the Orange County Register, “If we didn’t think he was ready, he wouldn’t be here.” Avila added, “The reason he’s here is because we think he’s ready to be here.”
Fortunately, the confidence expressed by Dodgers leadership matched that of the principal: Adrian Beltre had no doubts at all about his ability to play at the highest level, but that it was the right time to test his assumption.
“I feel ready to play here, mentally and physically,” Kuwada quoted Beltre as saying at the time.
On his way out of town 25 years ago tonight, Beltre was quoted by Newell about how he did not want to be one of those players who got promoted to the big leagues only to be sent down soon thereafter for more seasoning.
“When I make it there, I want to stay there.”
Beltre stayed.
The potential first-year Hall of Fame inductee in 2024, retired from the game after the 2018 season having put the finishing touches on a career that spanned 21 seasons.
Beltre will stay in Cooperstown as well. Forever.
Steve Parkhurst is the author of a forthcoming biography about Adrian Beltre to be released in the fall of 2024.
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