Just days after the Texas Rangers were eliminated from playoff contention, the team revealed third baseman Adrian Beltre has a torn ligament in his thumb.
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Beltre Has Been Dealing with Thumb Injury
Friday, Oct. 16
According to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, Rangers president and general manager Jon Daniels told the media that Beltre played the second half of the 2015 season with a torn ligament in his thumb.
Daniels did not disclose whether the veteran needs surgery.
A thumb issue might come as a surprise for baseball fans. Beltre was sidelined during the American League Division Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, but it wasn't his thumb that forced him out; it was his back.
Beltre suffered the back injury while swinging during Game 1 and had to leave. He sat for Games 2 and 3 before returning for the final two matchups of the series.
It didn't look like the thumb injury hurt Beltre down the stretch. In fact, he put up better numbers in his final 74 games of the season:
When he was in the lineup in the postseason, he was just as good, batting .444 with an RBI.
Daniels said the team will evaluate Beltre's thumb again to see whether it "needs to be followed up on" or can heal naturally, per the Dallas Morning News' Brad Townsend.
The 36-year-old Beltre will want to be 100 percent healthy in 2016, as it will be the final season of his five-year, $80 million deal, per Spotrac. But even if he isn't, Beltre has shown he can string together gutsy performances and produce when his team needs him the most.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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