Scioscia recalls Rangers' Beltre as 15-year-old phenom
Then Dodgers' Minor League coach saw All-Star play in Dominican
ANAHEIM -- Angels manager Mike Scioscia on Sunday recalled seeing Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre when he was 15.
"I saw Adrian before he signed [with the Dodgers], in the Dominican Republic," said Scioscia, who had finished his playing career with the Dodgers, and was the club's minor-league catching coordinator. "You could see, even then, he was so far ahead of everybody with his abilities, his bat speed, the way he grew into and used his body.
"There was no doubt then that Adrian had the abilities he's developed into a Hall of Fame-caliber third baseman."
Beltre, 36, is in his 18th major-league season. He went into Sunday's game with 2,616 hits, including 530 doubles, and he's three home runs shy of 400. He's also three RBIs behind Ted Simmons (1,386) for No. 77 on that all-time list.