Atlanta Braves: Top 3B (age 34-37) every season of the past decade
By Seth Carter
2014-2016 – Adrian Beltre (37)
2016 – Adrian Beltre (37)
5.5 fWAR
.300/.328/.521
153 Games // 89 R // 32 HR // 104 RBI // 128 OPS+
Adrian Beltre is the great hope for the Braves if Donaldson signs. Beltre was still rocking through his age-37 season, as evidenced by his 5.5 fWAR in 2016. He was a great defender and a great hitter. Even at age 37, Beltre finished 7th in MVP voting.
In my previous article I reviewed recent MVP winners and how they faired during their age 35+ seasons. The results were not good, but Beltre was not on that list. Despite finishing in the top 15 in MVP voting on eight different occasions, he has never taken home the prestigious award.
Aaron Hill was the only other player between the qualifying ages to end with a positive WAR (1.2). The other two players were Juan Uribe and Jhonny Peralta, both of whom posted a 0.0 fWAR.
2015 – Adrian Beltre (36)
4.3 fWAR
.287/.334/.453
143 Games // 83 R // 18 HR // 83 RBI // 110 OPS+
Guess who’s back? Beltre wasn’t as dominant with the bat this season, but he was still a very good hitter who supplied a stellar glove with 18 defensive runs saved.
2015 actually saw three players (with significant playing time) post a positive fWAR with Uribe and Aramis Ramirez posting a 2.0 and a 1.1, respectively.
2014 – Adrian Beltre (35)
5.9 fWAR
.324/.388/.492
148 Games // 79 R // 19 HR // 77 RBI // 144 OPS+
Beltre was clearly the most dominant old guy third baseman of the past few years. While Aramis Ramirez and Juan Uribe posted solid outings again, Beltre was the only player that was playing a high enough level to be worth any sort of big-money contract at this age. He clearly found a way to work Father Time over. Uribe did post a solid 3.4 fWAR and Ramirez came in with a 1.7 fWAR.