'He was sick': How Beltré inspired Machado

This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell’s Padres Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Manny Machado was a 19-year-old prospect playing in Double-A for the Bowie Baysox when the Orioles first approached him about a position change. A lifelong shortstop, Machado had never played a game at third base.

Naturally, Machado began that process the way any kid learning third base in 2012 would: He pulled up YouTube videos of Adrian Beltré.

"When I got moved over to third base, that's when I started really watching," Machado said. "I was watching his YouTube videos, watching his highlights, learning how he plays the game, how he prepares, trying to read articles about how he got better at third base defensively."

Not that it needed to be asked, but I asked anyway: "Why Beltré?" Machado laughed.

"Because he was the best," Machado said. "He was the best at the time, and he's our generation, so you can watch all his highlights. I don't think you could watch as much Brooks Robinson or George Brett. Just watching him helped me out tremendously."

On Sunday, Beltré was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He's widely regarded as one of the best all-around third basemen of all-time. He also made a clear impact on the current generation of third basemen.

• With love and laughs, Beltré takes his place in Hall as one of hot corner's finest

"He was an inspiration," said Machado, a Dominican-American who was born in Hialeah, Fla. "A Dominican player, he was obviously a guy I looked up to as a role model."

Machado met Beltré that summer, when his first road trip as a big leaguer after his Aug. 9, 2012, debut included a series against Texas. Later that year, Machado's Orioles would beat Beltré's Rangers, 5-1, in the AL Wild Card Game.

But he didn't really get to know Beltré until five years later, when the two were teammates with the Dominican Republic at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

"All I wanted to do was pick his brain on how he prepared every day," Machado said. "Seeing it firsthand, it was impressive."

Machado vividly recalled watching Beltré before a game at Petco Park. He crept halfway down the third-base line during warmups and took "absolute rockets" from the team’s coaches. That fit Beltré's style, Machado said. Both Beltré and Machado are elite defensive third basemen, but their methods differed.

"He's more of, like, a goalkeeper, which is kind of how they teach third base," Machado said. "But that's not exactly me. I'm not going to be a goalie. ... He always played up. He was more of a side-to-side guy. I'm more of an angles guy -- I go back and I go in."

That said, the similarities greatly outnumber the differences. Machado and Beltré are both righty-hitting two-way third basemen who have won Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards. Beltré has now been enshrined in Cooperstown. Machado might find himself there one day, too.

This much, at least, is clear:

“I picked the right guy to study,” Machado said. “He was sick.”