Rangers’ Beltre Wins 3rd Gold Glove

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Arlington — Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre has been selected the winner of the 2011 Rawlings Gold Glove Award at his position, as announced Tuesday evening by the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company. It is his third career Rawlings Gold Glove Award.

The Rawlings Gold Gloves are presented for defensive excellence in voting conducted by American League managers and coaches. Staff members may not vote for players on their own teams.

Beltre is the first Ranger to earn a Gold Glove since Michael Young won his lone career honor as a shortstop in 2008. Beltre becomes just the second Texas player to win a Gold Glove Award at third base, joining Rangers Hall of Famer Buddy Bell, who took the honors in six consecutive seasons from 1979-84. He is just the 11th player to win a Gold Glove Award with Texas, joining Bell and current first-base coach Gary Pettis as the only players to take the honors in their first season with the Rangers.

Beltre has now won the American League Gold Glove at third base in three of the last five years (also 2007 and 2008 with Seattle), and ends the two-year reign of Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria at the position. Beltre is the 16th third baseman (both leagues) to win the award at least three times in a career, one of seven players to do it in the American League.

Beltre ranked second among AL qualifiers with a .965 (11 E/208 TC) fielding percentage, the fourth-best figure of his career, as he posted the second-lowest error total in his career (10 errors in 2004). He ranked third in the league with 2.86 total chances per nine innings and did not commit an error in his final 41 regular-season games.

Texas has now had a Gold Glove winner in two of the last five seasons (2007-11), this after a Rangers player was on the Gold Glove Team for 16 consecutive years from 1992-2006. Ian Kinsler was a finalist in this year’s Gold Glove balloting, but the Rangers have still never had a second baseman win the award.