It appears that Carlos Beltrán’s number 15 will soon be joining the other retired numbers up above the promenade in left field at Citi Field. According to Mike Puma, the organization is planning a ceremony to honor the former Mets’ center fielder and retire his number later this season. Originally, Beltran was going to be inducted into the tam Hall of Fame alongside Lee Mazzilli and Bobby Valentine, but he is no longer part of that ceremony, which has been scheduled for May 30 at Citi Field.
Earlier
this year, Beltrán was officially inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his fourth year on the ballot, receiving 84.2% of the vote. A few weeks later, it was officially announced that he would go in wearing a Mets cap on his plaque, making him only the third player to enter Cooperstown with a Mets cap. He joins franchise legends Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza, who were, for a long time prior to Steve Cohen purchasing the club, the only two Mets players to have their number retired. Under the Wilpons’ ownership, it always seemed that entering the Hall of Fame with a Mets hat was a requirement to get your number retired, though Cohen in recent years has done wonders to celebrate the organization’s greats by retiring more numbers.
Beltrán is one of the best all-around players in franchise history, excelling with both his bat and his glove while in Queens. After signing a seven-year, $119 million deal prior to the 2005 season, he slugged 149 home runs, scored 551 runs, and drove in 559 runs while slashing .280/.369/.500 with a 127 wRC+ and a 29.3 fWAR in 848 games in New York. He experienced a rough first year in Flushing in 2005 and responded with a tremendous 2006 campaign, posting a 7.2 fWAR while slashing .275/.388/.594 with 41 homers, 127 runs scored, 116 runs batted in, and a 148 wRC+ in 140 games. He finished fourth in NL MVP voting and won his first of three straight Gold Glove awards and two consecutive Silver Sluggers. He also earned one of his five All-Star nods as a member of the Mets. However, he very unfairly became remembered by some fans for one particular at-bat, going down on three pitches against Adam Wainwright to conclude a Game 7 loss to the Cardinals. That would be Beltrán’s final postseason moment as a Met, though he hit three home runs during that NLCS.
Among position players all-time, he ranks third in WAR (31.2), fourth in OP (.869), sixth in OBP (.369), sixth in SLG (.500), seventh in home runs (149), seventh in doubles (208), seventh in RBI (559), tenth in walks (449), and tenth in runs scored (551). By all accounts, he remains one of the best offensive players in franchise history while playing terrific defense at a premium position. Like with David Wright, it seems the club will pair together his Hall of Fame induction and number retirement in one ceremony.
Beltrán’s number retirement will be the fourth in three years, and the seventh since Cohen took ownership of the club, joining Jerry Koosman’s 36 (2021), Keith Hernandez’s 17 (2022), Willie Mays’ 24 (2002 – done during Old Timer’s Day), Dwight Gooden’s 16 (2024), Darryl Strawberry’s 18 (2024), and David Wright’s 5 (2025).
