By Tim Ryder 

As was reported and confirmed on Friday, the New York Mets have selected Carlos Beltran as their next manager, the 22nd in franchise history and the first Latino skipper in the organization’s 58-year history.

Apparently, Mickey Callaway‘s inexperience-riddled run in Flushing didn’t scare team brass away from taking a chance on another wet-behind-the-ears skipper in Beltran. And justifiably so.

The Puerto Rican native received glowing recommendations from his friends in Houston (Astros skipper A.J. Hinch and shortstop Carlos Correa) and, by all accounts, is one of the more respected baseball minds in the game today.

On Friday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora raved about Beltran to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post (an excellent read).

“Throughout this process, we’ve been talking a lot. Carlos did his homework. He is prepared and he is ready to go. The Mets have someone who is going to impact the team in a different way. This guy, he will do an outstanding job.”

The positional core that’s in place here in Flushing — Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Amed Rosario, Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, and J.D. Davis, to name a few — must be giddy, all hoping to pick Beltran’s brain this spring and soak up some of that Cooperstown-bound knowledge he picked up over 20 seasons in the majors.

The Mets bench appeared to lack a feel for the game at times over the last two years. With Beltran at the helm, that presumably won’t be an issue anymore. Let’s just hope the bullpen is managed well.

Only two years removed from his playing career — immediately followed by his time spent in the front office of one of the more analytically-driven teams in baseball — the 42-year-old’s grasp on today’s game is likely just as firm as it was when he stepped away after winning the World Series with the Astros in 2017.

Beltran’s ability to digest the information coming from the Mets’ analytics department will be key. In this new age of baseball — where talent and data absorption converge — interpreting and relaying that info accurately and effectively to the players is of utmost importance.

By the way, we’re all very curious to see how Luis Rojas, the team’s quality control coach who currently acts as the Mets’ conduit of data from the front office to the clubhouse, fits into this new regime.

Considering he made it to the second round of interviews for the Mets manager position and he’s been in the organization for a number of years, it’s entirely conceivable we could see Rojas named to Beltran’s staff in the coming weeks.

A move of that nature would lean toward prudence — Rojas has an extensive history with a number of current Mets players from his time spent in the Mets’ system — and would provide Beltran with a go-to, well-familiarized resource. We shall see.

The Mets tabbing their next manager was the first of many items on general manager Brodie Van Wagenen’s to-do list this offseason. Now that Beltran, 42, has the first seat on the bench, the rest of this team’s winter dominoes can begin to fall.

Welcome home, Carlos. Now let’s get to work.