Beltre showing signs of ending his slump

On June 4, Adrian Beltre bottomed out.

He was batting .234 in his first season with Seattle, and feeling so bad he passed on the opportunity to accept an award on the field at Safeco – he didn’t think picking up hardware for what he did last year would make Mariners fans happy.

The next day, he and batting coach Don Baylor sat down to look at a video Baylor and video coordinator Carl Hamilton had put together – a split-screen look at Beltre’s swing in 2004 and in 2005.

“He was trying everything, trying to find out what was wrong with his swing,” Baylor said. “He’d have his hands up one at-bat, down the next. I showed him the video and the basic swing was identical.”

Beltre was stunned.

“I thought it had to be something physical, something in my swing or my setup,” he said. “But it wasn’t.”

So what was it?

“I tapped his head and said, ‘It’s right in there,’ ” Baylor said.

Beltre was so relieved it wasn’t a flaw in his swing that he did something he hadn’t done since spring training. He relaxed.

What a difference that made.

“The way he’s hitting, he could be at .280 by the All-Star break,” Baylor laughed.

Beltre insists he feels good, not great, yet. In the past week, he’s hit four home runs to push his total to nine. That’s light years behind the total of 48 he hit last year with the Dodgers, but it’s progress.

“I may never have another year like that,” Beltre said, “but I’m not the hitter I was in April and May. I know that much. I couldn’t find myself, then I couldn’t find the reason for that. It was driving me crazy.

“I’m hitting the ball hard to all fields now, and that’s my game,” said Beltre. “The home runs will come, but I went from hitting the ball hard three times a game in spring to going two or three days without feeling good at the plate.”

So did seeing that video free him of concern?

“Well, it also made me wonder why I didn’t find it sooner,” Beltre said.

Larry LaRue, Tacoma Tribune