Adrian Beltre thinks Joe West’s ‘complainer’ tag was in jest, but ...

Rangers’ third baseman Adrian Beltre hopes Joe West was just joking. But he doesn’t know for sure. The MLB umpire who is celebrating his 40th season and just called his 5,000 major league game in Denver, told USA Today that Beltre was the biggest complainer in the league.

“It’s got to be Adrian Beltre. Every pitch you call that’s a strike, he says, ‘Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!’ I had a game with him recently and the pitch was right down the middle. He tells me, “that ball is outside,’” said West, who was in Arlington for the series against the Mariners. “I told him, ‘You may be a great ballplayer, but you’re the worst umpire in the league. You stink.’’’

Beltre knows exactly what West is talking about. He often will call a pitch outside if he’s not swinging even before the ball reaches the catcher. The umpires usually know it’s just Beltre being Beltre.

“It was a pitch right down the middle, and I always say ‘it’s outside’ on every pitch that I’m taking, sometimes before the pitch gets there, so I’m kidding,” Beltre said. “We both laughed. Even the catcher [Mike Zunino] laughed.”

Beltre said he hopes West was kidding and was misunderstood. If not, Beltre might be a tad irked.

“I’m hoping he was kidding, because if he was not, he needs to find some deep info because I never complain about pitches. Seriously,” he said. “Every umpire knows I say that from the dugout or when I’m at home plate. Every pitch for me is outside, and they know it. I haven’t heard a complaint from anybody. Joe is Joe.”

Beltre would like to verify whether West was serious.

An addendum to the USA Today story clarified from West that he and Beltre are on friendly terms. But apparently West isn’t backing down on his initial claim or hasn’t yet made it clear that he doesn’t think Beltre is serious about his habit of calling pitches ‘outside.’

“If it was serious, we would have a problem,” Beltre said. “But I expect he was joking, and I’ve never had a problem with him. He’s not everybody’s favorite umpire, but he’s Joe.”

If West was being serious, Beltre’s not going to lose any sleep over it.

“How many times have you seen me complain at home? And for me to be the number one complainer? I took that as a compliment. To be good at something. But I expected him to be joking because we just had a joke moment a couple days before. I don’t care, I just find that kind of funny.”

And what if he was serious?

“It’s not going to ruin my day, but it was kind of shocking to me that he said that, if he was serious,” said Beltre, 38, who is in his 20th season in the majors. “Even if he was serious, I know where I stand and the umpire knows where I stand, so I don’t want to change my ways for Joe at this point.”

This story was originally published June 21, 2017 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Adrian Beltre thinks Joe West’s ‘complainer’ tag was in jest, but ...."