FRISCO, TEXAS (OCTOBER 4, 2012) - Frisco RoughRiders center fielder Engel Beltre has been selected as a winner of a 2012 Rawlings Minor League Gold Glove Award for defensive excellence at his position. Beltre was selected as the best defensive center fielder among all 120 full-season Minor League teams. He and the nine other winners at their respective positions will receive their own Rawlings Gold Glove Award trophies, which will be presented to them during the 2013 season.

Beltre, 22, played all but one of his 120 defensive games in center field and committed just one error all season while accumulating 12 outfield assists. His .997 fielding percentage was the best among all qualified Double-A outfielders and he routinely made spectacular defensive plays throughout the season in what was an exceptional Frisco outfield.

Prior to the 2012 season, Beltre was named the "Best Defensive Outfielder" in the Rangers' farm system by Baseball America and he lived up to his billing in that publication's mind, rating as the Texas League's best outfield defender in its annual "Best Tools" issue this past August. He was named a Texas League Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star this season, hitting .261 (147 for 564) with 17 doubles, 17 triples (second in the Minors), 13 home runs, 55 runs batted in, 80 runs scored and 36 steals.

The Rangers originally acquired Beltre in a 2007 trade with the Boston Red Sox. He, outfielder David Murphy and pitcher Kason Gabbard were dealt to the Rangers in exchange for pitcher Eric Gagne. Boston signed Beltre in 2006 out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.