Tuesday, December 23, 2014

DrB's 2015 Giants Top 50 Prospects: #1 Tyler Beede

Tyler Beede, RHP.  DOB:  5/23/1993.  6'4", 200 lbs.

Vanderbilt(college):

2012:  1-5, 4.50, 71.2 IP, 4.00 BB/9, 8.50 K/9.
2013:  14-1, 2.32, 101 IP, 5.61 BB/9, 9.18 K/9.
2014:  8-8, 4.05, 113.1 IP, 4.21 BB/9, 9.24 K/9.

Rookie AZL:  0-1, 3.12, 8.2 IP, 4 BB, 11 K, GO/AO= 1.50.
Salem-Keizer:  0-0, 2.70, 6.2 P, 3 BB, 7 K's.  GO/AO- 1.40.

Tyler Beede was the Giants first round draft pick in the 2014 draft, #14 overall.  He has been an elite prospect since HS when he was drafted in the first round by the Toronto Blue Jays at #21 overall.   He chose to go to Vanderbilt and had a strong career there.  He's a big kid with almost perfect pitcher's dimensions.  On video he looks like a big strong strapping kid who may weigh 10-15 lbs more than his listed weight and he still looks like he has room to fill out!.  He just is a very commanding presence on the mound dominating the batter's view.

He has a strong, aggressive looking windup and delivery with a 3/4 release point.  It looks like he may still have a bit of variance in the location of that release point.  He has a 4 seam FB that sits 92-94 and has touched 98 against Xavier in the college playoffs.  He is not just a hard thrower though.  He also has a plus curveball and a change up that has been described as "plus-plus"  When he lost command of his FB in the college WS, he was still able to get batters out with the change.  Kyle Crick may throw harder with the FB, but his secondary stuff is not nearly as developed.  Again, there is more to "stuff" than just velocity.

Beede's pro debut was limited to an extremely small sample size as he had to wait for the college WS to end before signing and I am sure the Giants did not want to tax his arm anymore after the extra college work.  His pro numbers were similar to his college numbers.  From a tools and "stuff" standpoint, Beede is, by far, the top pitching prospect in the Giants system.  The big concern is his command/control.  First of all, I don't think his command issues are quite as serious as they've been made out to be.  His walk rate was a lot worse in 2013 when he had a dominant season. Timmy had worse walk rates in college.  Sonny Gray's walk rates at Vandy were almost as high as Beede's, in the high 3's.  Secondly, the while the Giants Pitcher Whisperer reputation may be a bit overblown, they do have a track record of helping pitchers overcome command problems.  Thirdly, I think his stuff is so dominant that once he gets the hang of pitching to wood bats, his confidence will skyrocket and he will be much more comfortable challenging hitters.

Lastly, I would like to break down a video that I think has freaked a lot of people out.  It's of one inning from his Arizona League experience.  The Video was posted by Conner Penfold from Giant Potential.  Beede was indeed wild to the first two batters he faced, walking both, and not really coming at all close to the strike zone.  Here is the pitch sequence of the next 3 batters:

Batter 3:  Ball 1, low and away.  Foul pop.  Called strike, inside corner at the knees.  Weak check swing for strike 3.  Ball looked in the zone on outside corner.

Batter 4:  Ball, Foul, Ball, Foul, flyout to RF by RH batter.  Late on FB.

Batter 5:  Ball(slightly high).  Ball, low and away.  Foul.  Swinging Strike FB just below letters.  Called strike 3, outside corner at the knees.

So you see, after walking the first 2 batters with pitches that were not near the strike zone, he really settled down and dominated the next 3 batters to get out of the inning.

I don't know about you, but I see that as a big positive in a video that has been widely cited as worrisome.

I would think Beede should start the 2015 season with San Jose.   I think he will do well and move fast.  I can easily see him getting a September callup, starting 2016 in AAA with a final ETA of midseason 2016.  I think he is going to be the next great Giants homegrown starting pitcher in a line that started with Matt Cain followed by Timmy and Bummy.  He really was an easy choice for #1 Giants prospect for 2015.

21 comments:

  1. I'm learning not to get my hopes up too high too soon on Beede. For now I don't want to think success for Beede is being a Matt Cain or Mad Bum. For me success will be having better career than Touki Toussaint and Grant Holmes. I think a big reason the Giants drafted him is that they felt he will move fast. Don't forget he has the Giant's kind of personality. What does he call himself...Young Beedah?

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    1. Nothing wrong with having high hopes. He's going to be great.

      One additional point to the discussion: Once you get past those two leadoff walks in that one inning, the rest of his AZL line was 11 K's against just 2 BB's. That looks a lot better, don't you think?

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    2. Just curious, I've only started reading this awesome blog in anticipation of last year's draft. Is there a write up like this for Chris Stratton?

      Thanks

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    3. Yes. However, he does only 1 to 2 prospects a day. You can look on the left for January 2014 in the Blog Archive to find last year's writeup.

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    4. Thanks I just want to see the optimism for Stratton and remind myself to tone down the excitement a little! Desperately hoping Beede becomes our next Cain or Lincecum

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    5. Stratton didn't do awful, just not as good as you would hope for a college first round draft pick. 120K v 48BB. Gave up 15HR which came out to be 1.1HR/9. We want to see that number come down.

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    6. I was never as high on Stratton as I am on Beede. Then, it seemed like something happened with the concussion and he hasn't been quite the same since.

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    7. Just for comparison I ranked Stratton #4 in the 2013 list, at the same stage as Beede. I had Gary Brown at #1, Joe Panik at #2(thank you very much!), and Kyle Crick at #3.

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    8. Yeah after reading the review I do see the difference in opinion. Somehow the Giants still see something in him or maybe just hoping something clicks by promoting him to AA midseason this year.

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    9. I think Stratton still scouts better than he performs. That may be what the Giants are looking at.

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  2. I'm sure some here already know this, please forgive me...

    I found it interesting to learn that Beede works out with KC's Tim Collins, using Eric Cressey's High Performance Training (HPT) regimen. Beede will do so over this winter. It's a curious system. A couple links for anybody interested in learning more. Cheers.

    http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/transformation-tim-collins?fullpage=true
    http://www.telegram.com/article/20141109/NEWS/311099654/1009#.VGDnhzHKcMY.twitter

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  3. Again I firmly believe the Giants picked Beede over high schoolers Touki or Holmes based upon his potential to move fast and reach the Show with impact in 2016. 2015 will be the acid test. Otherwise the Giants are spending millions on a FA starter.

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  4. Mike Kickham was just claimed by the Cubbies. He was taken off of the 40 man roster to make room for Jake Peavy.

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    1. Kickham's career seemed to be sliding backwards with the Giants. Best wishes to him in the future although I am not a fan of the Cubs at all.

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  5. Yes, best wishes to Kickham, but I'm a bit relieved to see him out of the system. It was from a small sample size of a few outings, of course, but I don't think I ever recall another time when the pitcher's picture was shown on the stadium scoreboard with a triple digit ERA next to his name.
    As for Beede, I am pretty encouraged by him, although cautiously so. As the thinking goes, you can't teach elite velocity and stuff, but you can refine control and command. Let's hope the Giants development team can work its magic with Beede.

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  6. He just needs to compete and play his game.I think we should have another work horse on our hands.

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  7. For all the talk that FA's don't want to play here, looks like the Giants got both Romo and Peavy below other offers because they like the organization so much. Tells you all need to know about how the Giants treat their players IMO.

    Billy Baseball

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    1. Recently there was a discussion on this site about whether baseball players inevitably go to the highest bidder. When I saw, as you did, the overt statements by Romo and Peavy that they had turned down more money to stay with the Giants, I was especially struck and pleased because of that discussion and its whiff of what? hardheadeness? cynicism?

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  8. I think Cain will be a glimpse of his former self. Maybe not his 2012 self but still pretty good. So, I am not too worried about whether Beede is a #1 or a #2. Pitchers like that are hard to come by. I will be happy if he is just a fixture of our rotation. If he turns out to be a front line starter than ever better.

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  9. On FA choosing money - It's a totally subjective discussion, but I think given the enormous sample size we have to work with, the majority of players choose money over team. For every Romo or Peavy, there is a Sandoval...

    As for Beede - I wrote in your Top 50 the other day: no doubt about it. The ceiling is there, the proximity to the majors is close, and he has already proven himself in an elite conference that is easily as good as the low minors. Get those kinks on location nailed down and we have a legitimate #2 starter IMO.

    I like your comments about Stratton. I think Stratton was drafted where he should have been and Beede may have scared a few teams off... Beede is clearly a better prospect than Stratton. In comparing pitchers, I'd say Kyle Crick is less seasoned and may have a ceiling close to Beede's but the reality is that he's far from the ceiling and the likelihood he reaches it is not as high as Beede's. Nice call for a clear #1.

    Andy in San Diego

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  10. Tyler Beede simply hit a growth spurt while attending Vanderbilt. If you watch the 2011 draft clips on MLB.COM or other similar videos, each one states how advanced he was for a high school pitcher. He had three plus pitches out of high school where he was 88-92. Now he has gained size and strength and now sits 93-97 and has a plus plus change and the curve is coming back. My money is on Tyler to make the adjustments in his delivery and rocket thru the system and get a Sept call up. This guy can flat out pitch and when he is on, he is surgical with his pitches. I saw him 5 times in various SEC ball games and the one that sticks out is Texas AM, in SEC tournament, as well as South Carolina, AT South Carolina.. Trust me Giant fans , We have a future ACE here with Beede

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