Astros pay their respects to Carlos Beltran’s glove

The Astros once again prove to us that they are, in fact, human themselves. A fun but respectful bunch of professional baseball players.

Whenever we lose something near and dear to us, we grieve. It is a very human-like thing to do. The Astros happen to be full of human beings.

Umpires, on the other hand, are inching closer to being non-humans. You know, like, robots. Or cyborgs. After all, it is only a matter of time before a computer is calling balls-and-strikes.

Anyway, the humans that make the Astros roster decided to hold an impromptu funeral for Carlos Beltran’s glove. It was quite an uplifting sight to behold.

Brian McCann performed a lovely ceremony as Beltran’s teammates comforted him about the sudden departure of his glove. To be fair, though, the glove had clearly seen better days.

Back in the day, Beltran used to be a slick fielder in the outfield. He could play all three outfield positions seamlessly, but center field was where he made his mark. Please don’t hate me for this, but here is a clip of him robbing an Astros batter (Luke Scott?) while climbing Tal’s Hill back in 2007.

See what I did there?

And, yes, he was a New York Met at this point in time.

In fact, he won three consecutive Gold Gloves from 2006-08 and he was widely considered one of the best defensive players in the game. But that is old news in 2017.

As you may have noticed by now, in July, Beltran hasn’t played in the field since May16th. Basically two months’ worth of games. Part of this development can be attributed to the sudden offensive emergence of Marwin Gonzalez and Jake Marisnick. Another reason is Beltran’s defense isn’t quite the same as it used to be.

2017 Defensive Metrics: -2 DRS, -12.6 UZR/150 in 54 innings

This is a far cry from the days when posted a positive double-digit DRS and UZR/150 in his prime.

At the end of the day, though, this wasn’t a day for somber feelings to persist. The Astros were simply remembering their friend in a positive light and remembering the good ol’ days. Beltran himself was reportedly in good spirits throughout the event.

Next: Astros: Collin McHugh starts in AA and will return this weekend

In a way, this wasn’t saying goodbye. Rather it was about remembering the times when Beltran’s glove was one of the best in baseball. And having a good laugh.

**Statistics and information courtesy of Fangraphs and Baseball Reference**