Best hitters in playoff history: Ruth, Gehrig and … Beltran?

The perception of Carlos Beltran’s performance in the playoffs is largely built around his once taking an Adam Wainwright curveball for an NLCS-ending called third strike. That narrative, like many narratives, couldn’t be further from the truth.

After homering twice last night Beltran has now gone deep 13 times in 25 career playoff games while hitting .362 with a 1.297 OPS. He’s played in six different playoff series and has posted an OPS above 1.000 in four of them (including that NLCS against Wainwright and the Cardinals in 2006).

Obviously those are amazing numbers, but did you know Beltran now owns the highest slugging percentage and the highest OPS in postseason history? Here are the career leardboards among everyone with at least 100 plate appearances in the playoffs:

                    PA      SLG                            PA      OPS
CARLOS BELTRAN     115     .819        CARLOS BELTRAN     115    1.297
Babe Ruth          167     .744        Babe Ruth          167    1.211
Lou Gehrig         150     .731        Lou Gehrig         150    1.208

Carlos Beltran. Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig. No big deal or anything.

Padres outfielder Manuel Margot was pulled from Friday’s game after sustaining an injury on an attempted catch in the eighth inning. Margot laid out in center field to snare Cesar Hernandez‘s double, but appeared to injure his left wrist in the process. Little is known about the precise nature or severity of the injury so far, but Margot underwent an evaluation following the incident and should have a clearer picture of his recovery timetable soon.

It’s a disappointing turn of events for the 23-year-old outfielder, who finished the game batting .245/.312/.365 with 25 extra-base hits and a .677 OPS through 312 PA. This isn’t the first time he’s been sidelined with wrist issues this season; he hyperextended his left wrist on another diving catch back in mid-May, though he managed to successfully avoid the disabled list (and a lengthy setback) after taking a few days off. It’s not clear whether he’ll be that lucky a second time.

An unforeseen result of Margot’s departure in the eighth: The Padres were forced to insert catcher A.J. Ellis in left field for the first time, as they had already cycled through their remaining options on the bench. Ellis, whose last tryout in the outfield came during a two-inning stint in Double-A back in 2007, didn’t get the chance to show off his defensive chops, however, as Wil Myers gloved the inning-ending out several minutes after Margot was removed from the game. The Padres dropped their series opener to the Phillies, 11-5.