Adrian Beltre Perez was born April 7, 1979 in the Dominican Republic capitol city of Santo Domingo. Beltre was drafted right out of the Caribbean concourse by the Los Angeles Dodgers after being spotted by LA scouts Ralph Avila and Pablo Peguero. Only fifteen years old at the time, Beltre was signed in contravention of Major League Baseball Rules, an infraction which ended in the Dodgers’ scouting operations in his country being suspended for a year. Adrian Beltre began his career with Single-A clubs Savannah and San Bernardino in 1996.

His offense was impressive, smacking 26 home runs in 131 games split between the two clubs, while batting a combined .284 and batting in 99. His defense though was not so memorable, committing 25 errors in 125 games in which he started, all at third base. Thankfully his defensive performance was not indicative of things to come. Adrian Beltre spent 1997 at Vero Beach in the Florida State League where he continued to impress with his offense while regressing defensively. He smashed 26 home runs and 24 doubles en route to posting a BA of .317, but defensively he was a disaster, committing 37 errors in his 121 games. His fielding average of .895 was a cause for concern.

After improving his fielding and batting .321 for the San Antonio Missions in 1998, Adrian Beltre was called up to the majors on June 21 and started his first game at 3rd base against the Anaheim Angels. His first at-bat produced a two-out RBI double, and his first home run would come six days later against Rick Helling of the Texas Rangers.

Adrian Beltre began 2010 playing for the Boston Red Sox after signing a one year $9 million deal on January 7. He began the season admirably and smashed his first home run for his new team on May 4 against the Angels. Beltre was one of four Red Sox players to go long in the game, the others being Bill Hall, Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia. In his first 25 games Beltre’s BA was .333 with 31 hits in 93 at-bats which included 7 doubles and 13 RBI’s to lead the team.

Defensively his .909 average was the worst of the Sox starters, committing 6 errors in his first 214.2 innings played, but remained on the starting roster. Before the season it looked doubtful that Adrian Beltre would be fit to start. Team manager Terry Francona said at the time "He's OK, he's really fighting to get on the field. I would think he'll be out there tomorrow with no restrictions." http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=4949134

2009 was the last season Adrian Beltre would play with the Seattle Mariners after they had signed him to a five year $64 million deal as a free agent before the beginning of the 2005 season. His last year with the Mariners would not be his best, as he spent 51 games on the disabled list mostly due to a shoulder operation to remove bone spurs. The 111 games that he did play in were his fewest since his rookie year in 1998.

Despite his season being cut short, Beltre managed to set some career milestones, establishing himself as the all time leader in total hits and extra-base hits for any Seattle third baseman. Unfortunately his string of consecutive seasons with 25 home runs or more was cut short at three when he only managed 8 long balls for the year.

After being reinstated on August 4th after a lay off of nearly 60 days, Beltre took a ground ball to the crotch on August 13 and was sidelined for an additional 18 days. His refusal to wear a protective cup is well documented, and teammate Ken Griffey Jr. conspired with the Safeco Field PA system operators to play the Nutcracker Suite as his at-bat intro music on his return, much to the delight of the fans and players alike.

Adrian Beltre smashed 29 doubles and 25 homers in 2008 for Seattle, those totals accumulated in 143 games. His RBI tally for the season was his lowest in five years with only 77 runs coming in off his bat. In one of his best defensive displays ever he was awarded the American League Golden Glove at 3rd base for the second consecutive season, winning the Fielding Bible's award as the Majors best third baseman in the process.