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Yankees Editorial: Why Isn’t Carlos Beltran Hitting?

By Michael Cambria

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The Yankees offense is struggling as a whole, but Jeff Pentland, the team’s new hitting coach says there’s a reason why their no.3 hitter Carlos Beltran has gotten off to a terrible start.

"“He is a little frustrated right now because I don’t think he is used to struggling, Pentland told George King III of the New York Post. “He has been able to hit all of his life. I don’t think he knows how to handle it but there is a first time for everything.”"

The Yankees are relying on their veteran outfielder to rebound from an injury plagued 2014, in which he posted a sluggish slash line of .233/.301/.402 due to an elbow injury that required surgery to repair. As a matter of fact, many will insist that his offensive output it critical to the success of the 2015 New York Yankees.

Beltran went 1-for-4 with a hard hit double and an RBI in Tuesday night’s 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. He is now batting .156 in 34 plate appearances with four RBIs, a .176 on-base percentage and .426 OPS through the teams first eight games of the young season.

The veteran, who will  turn 38 on April 24th is a career .280 hitter with a career OPS of .846. He’s also smacked a total of 373 home runs and 1,380 RBI’s.

He is two years removed from an incredible season in which he batted .296 with 24 home runs and 84 RBIs, all the while leading the St. Louis Cardinals to the 2013 World Series. That incredible display urged Brian Cashman to ink Beltran to a three-year/ $45 million deal to help carry the Yankees offense after the departure of Robinson Cano.

"“It’s somewhat of a struggle so far. There are not a lot of at-bats and [there are] a lot of hitters who are in the same position as we go into the second week of the season,” skipper Joe Girardi said of veteran right fielder. Obviously he is a much better hitter than he has shown. There are a couple of hitters in every lineup you need to get going and we have to get him going.”"

What do you think Yankee fans? Is 34 plate appearances too small a sample size, or is this a sign of things to come? Perhaps it might be in the Yankees best interest to call up one of their younger outfield prospects sooner rather than later, but we’ll save that argument for a later date.

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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