The Mets officially named Carlos Beltrán their 22nd manager in franchise history on November 4. This move was significant for a number of reasons. He became the first Latino manager in Mets history, and the first minority manager hired this offseason. Beltrán will also have a chance to become the first player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with the same cap of the team he’s currently managing.

However, at the end of the day, those significant achievements won’t mean anything in the locker room or on the field. While nobody knows what Beltrán is going to look like as a manager we do have an idea of what he brings to the organization as a whole.

The stigma of analytics

Analytics are at the forefront of baseball today. They have changed how the game is viewed, played, and managed. As such, most fans want a manager who has a strong knowledge of analytics and understands how to implement them well.

While we don’t know if Beltrán will be able to implement analytically sound tactics as a manager there is one thing we do know. Andy Martino reported that Carlos Beltrán doesn’t use the word analytics because it carries a stigma for players around the league, instead he uses the word information.

While most fans and front offices are pushing for heavily analytically based strategies, the players aren’t always in favor of analytics. That goes for the Astros and Yankees, the last two tops on Beltran’s career before the Mets, both of whom are among the leaders in analytics in all of baseball.

When Carlos Beltrán came to Houston in 2017 things began to change. According to Beltrán, he became a sort of middle-man for the front office and players. Beltrán understood how important analytics were to today’s game and how they were another tool for players to be used.

That’s why he worked to rid the stigma against analytics in the Astros’ clubhouse. He did so by simply changing the word he used, instead of calling it analytics he called it information. That way players wouldn’t be intimidated or have an immediate adverse reaction to the numbers presented.

Slowly but surely the stigma against analytics in the clubhouse wore off and the players fully bought into the Astros’ system. The Astros’ won the World Series that year, the last of Beltrán’s career. He continued to use this method during his tenure with the Yankees, another analytically forward team.

This goes to show two things about Beltran. The first is his communication ability which is off the charts. He understands the mindset of players and he knows how to talk to them to get them to understand and believe in complex ideas that they might not agree with. That’s not an easy thing to do, and it’s something that Mickey Callaway failed miserably at with Noah Syndergaard for instance.

The other thing this story teaches us about Beltrán is that he has a good enough grasp on analytics to get players to buy into it. Even if he isn’t an analytics savant he has a good enough understanding that he can relay the information to his players and have them put it into action.

This is no guarantee that Beltrán is going to rely on analytics as a manager, nor is it a guarantee he leans analytics over old-school tactics. All this shows us is that he understands the numbers and he understands how to communicate with players even in difficult situations. Those are incredibly valuable tools for a manager, and they should serve him well going forward.

The Carlos Beltrán Academy

Beltrán will also have an effect outside of the clubhouse. He will also have a pretty large effect on the scouting department. Very few know baseball in Puerto Rico like Carlos Beltrán.

It’s one of the reasons he began the Carlos Beltrán Academy. The academy is a High School with all the academic requirements of other schools in Puerto Rico, but its main focus is to prepare young baseball players for the MLB draft.

It has been wildly successful to date. The academy opened its doors in August of 2011, they had their first player drafted in the 2013 MLB draft. Since 2014 the Carlos Beltrán Academy has produced at least two drafted players in every draft.

The Mets drafted one player from the academy in the 2019 draft, Daniel Maldonado. Maldonado was one of very few players from the class to not sign. Having Beltrán on board would presumably give the Mets an advantage when it comes to signing players from his academy.

It should also give them an advantage when scouting players from the academy. That shouldn’t bee looked down on. the draft is a gamble, and it’s important to have as many advantages as possible. Hiring Beltrán as manager instantly gives the Mets a direct pipeline to one of the biggest baseball academies in Puerto Rico. That’s could be monumental come draft time.

Understanding and Observation of the Game

Multiple reporters have called Beltrán a baseball savant. What that means for his managerial abilities is currently unknown. However, there are examples of Beltrán’s unbelievable eye for the game.

One of Carlos Beltrán’s skills that should carry over to his managerial duties is his ability to spot pitchers tipping pitches. Beltránwas credited for spotting Yu Darvish tipping pitches in the 2017 World Series.

Darvish made four starts in the 2017 playoffs for the Dodgers. In his first two starts, Darvish was dominant. He allowed just two runs in 11.1 innings while striking out 14 and walking just one.

In the World Series, it was a different story. In two starts in the World Series, the Astros shelled Darvish to the tune of nine runs in 3.1 innings. One of those games was game seven. It could be argued that Beltran’s eye and understanding of the game won the Astros the World Series.

This isn’t a one-time occurrence either. Just this past season Beltrán noticed that James Paxton was tipping pitches during spring training, and corrected him. This came after the Astros tagged Paxton for five runs, and the Orioles tagged him for four the start before.

Paxton allowed just three runs in his next five starts after the advice from Beltrán. The new skipper’s eye for the game is an incredibly valuable tool that should give the Mets an advantage when prepping for games. It could end up being an invaluable tool that helps this team turn a corner.

Beltrán’s eye for the game doesn’t stop there. According to Joel Sherman, Beltrán is also one of the premier sign stealers in baseball. That’s another invaluable skill for any team that should give the Mets the advantage in game prep.

It’s true that nobody knows who Carlos Beltrán the manager really is. However, there are a lot of signs that Beltrán will be an invaluable presence in the clubhouse whose eye for and understanding of the game should provide the Mets with an advantage whenever they step into the film room.