Kansas City's Carlos Beltran strives to improve his talent: Royals outfielder working hard to be the best he can be--as a fielder, base runner and hitter.

OUTFIELDER CARLOS BELTRAN faces now-or-never season in Kansas City, so he's doing everything possible to help the Royals make the playoffs.

Carlos Beltran is expecting a big year ... and not just because it's a contract year.

That includes help with collecting $85,000 from teammates to pay for a weird-looking machine that spits out tennis balls at 140 mph, designed to improve a batter's eye. The contraption is a cross between a blowtorch ad chain saw. It has an orange canister, a vacuum-thinner motor and a five-foot tube that rests on a tripod.

"We asked the team and they liked the idea, but the general manager said he works within a budget and didn't have the money to pay for it," Beltran said. "So Juan (Gonzalez) and are I took up a collection. It's going to help us see the ball better."

Beltran, 26, is one of baseball's best-kept secrets. He's never been to an All-Star Game or played in the postseason. He's never won a Gold Glove. But he's gotten into the habit of revising switch-hitting history each season.

In 2002, his 80 extra-base hits beat Mickey Mantle's single-season A.L. record of 79. Last season, he was the first switch-hitter to average at least .300 with 25 home runs and 40 steals. Never mind that no one knows about it.

"Most people think that if you are not an All-Star, you are not a good player," Beltran says. "I hear all the time what it would mean if I played in a big city. I don't expect people to know who I am. I pray to God in the morning and at night to help me be a good player.