By Rob Rains
(For Mon. June 10, 2013) When the Cardinals boarded their charter flight to New York after Sunday night’s game in Cincinnati, Carlos Beltran did not get on the plane.
The Cardinals outfielder took a different flight out of Cincinnati, headed for San Juan, Puerto Rico, ready to spend Monday’s off day celebrating what he considers the greatest accomplishment in his life.
Beltran will be there to congratulate the 46 members of the first graduating class of the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy in Florida, Puerto Rico, not far from his hometown. The school had its groundbreaking ceremony in August, 2011, turning a longtime vision of Beltran’s into reality.
Beltran knows Monday will be an emotional day. He cried at the groundbreaking, and he knows he will cry again – likely several times –during Monday’s ceremony.
“Every time you see you are impacting kids in a positive way, and you see the families and excitement, how happy they feel, the dreams they have -- when you are part of that, it could be emotional,” Beltan said. “I have cried at many things that we have done at the academy.
“When I feel like I am doing something positive I always look at myself when I was growing up and the things my mom and my dad did for me and what we went through. I look at myself and the life I lead right now and doing the things that I am doing and it just brings a lot of good memories to me.”
Beltran decided to start the academy as a way to provide an education to young men who also might have the ability to play baseball. The school now has three classes, in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades, with this first graduating class having gone to the school for two years.
It was his way of giving back, and trying to pass along the blessings that he has received from being able to play baseball for a living.
When talking about his reasons for starting the academy, with much of the funds coming out of his own pocket, Beltran said last year that it was something he felt compelled to do.
“Guys like me never had anything like it, a place we could go and get an education at the same time,” he said. “We provide kids with a lot of information about baseball but also about life. I talk to them about nutrition and about everything I have learned in my career. I try to pass it on to those kids. When you are young that’s what you need, information, so you can make good decisions later on.
“These kids understand that this is their opportunity, and it doesn’t come to everyone. They have been blessed and they have the chance to take advantage of it. Some parents have come to me and really thanked me for what I am doing. It is a great feeling.
“God has blessed me and given me an opportunity to make a living out of the game of baseball and I felt it was the right thing for me to give back to try to bless others. Now kids have a place where they can study and play baseball.”
The graduation ceremony was intentionally scheduled for Monday, when the Cardinals had a day off, so Beltran could be there.
“To be there is important for me,” he said. “It’s something that I always dreamed about, and now it’s becoming reality. For me to be there means a lot. It’s like my son graduating, and I have to be there.”
All of the 46 graduating students will either be heading to college or to professional baseball. Three of the students were selected in this week’s amateur baseball draft, including Jan Hernandez, a shortstop/third baseman, by the Phillies in the third round.
The Cardinals even chose one of Beltran’s students, outfielder Ricardo Bautista, in the 12th round. The Boston Red Sox selected outfielder Joseph Monge in the 17th round.
“Everybody has made sacrifices,” Beltran said. “Some of those kids live like an hour and 20 minutes away. We provide transportation to and from school, but it is still a big sacrifice for what we are doing. We do this because we something needed to be created to give an opportunity to these kids.”
Beltran already has been told he is to have a speaking role in the ceremony, but he has not decided what he is going to say.
“I am going to congratulate every kid, but they said they expect me to say something,” Beltran said. “I never like to write down things, because then I don’t feel as if I am speaking from my heart. Maybe I will make a few bullet points and go from there.”
When he is home during the winter, Beltran is at the academy every day, involved in all of the decisions and plans that are being made. Even during the season, he is constantly monitoring what is going on at the academy on a daily basis.
“We have a board and we sometimes have conference calls, and I get e-mails all the time,” Beltran said. “I get the positive news and the not so positive news, and we try to make decisions.”
If not for the graduation ceremony, Beltran would have gone with the Cardinals to New York, and likely would have spent Monday’s off day with a good friend he made there when he was playing for the Mets.
His friend understood why Beltran had to take a rain check on their get together.
As he shakes the hand of all 46 graduating seniors, Beltran will have to fight back the tears, but make no mistake, they will be tears of joy.
One draft pick in college World Series
LSU first baseman Mason Katz, the fourth round pick of the Cardinals, will be the team’s only draft pick playing in this year’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Much like James Ramsey, whom the Cardinals picked in the first round last year from Florida State, one of the reasons Katz returned to school for his senior year was to help his team earn a trip to Omaha.
The trip is extra special for Katz and other LSU seniors, who have not qualified for the World Series before.
Katz has played five positions during his LSU career and spent this year primarily as the team’s first baseman. The Cardinals have said they will start him playing second base as professional.
Katz and the LSU Tigers earned the trip to Omaha by winning two games against Oklahoma in the Super Regional, the first win coming on Friday, the same day he was drafted by the Cardinals. Katz had not been drafted either coming out of high school or after his junior year in Baton Rouge.
“I’d have to put it probably as one of, it not the, best weekend of my life,” Katz said. “Maybe next week will be the best one.”
One interesting note about Katz, who led the SEC in homers and RBI this season, is that he faced Mississippi’s Mike Mayers on May 16, not knowing that less than three weeks later they would become teammates. Mayers was picked by the Cardinals in the third round of the draft.
Katz earned bragging rights for the first time they get together – he went 3 for 4 in that game, including hitting a home run.
Around the minors
Springfield first baseman Xavier Scruggs hit the 100th home run of his minor league career with the Cardinals on Sunday. Minor league records are not easy to come by, but it appears Scruggs is the first Cardinal minor leaguer to reach that milestone since Mike Calise in 1983 … Scruggs leads the organization with 16 homers, but he also has struck out 72 times in 178 at-bats.
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Rob Rains is a 30-year Baseball Writer who has written 31 books including his most recent, "Intentional Walk" about the faith of some of the St. Louis Cardinals players. Follow @RobRains on Twitter and read his articles on StLSportsPage.com