DrB's 2019 Giants Top 50 Prospects: #29 Tyler Beede

Tyler Beede, RHP.  DOB:  5/23/1993.  6'3", 210 lbs.  Drafted 2014 Round 1, #14 overall.

2018 AAA:  4-9, 7.05, 74 IP, 9.12 K/9, 6.81 BB/9.
2018 MLB:  0-1, 8.22, 7.2 IP, 10.57 K/9, 9.39 BB/9.

I really had no idea where to rank Tyler Beede after last year's disastrous performance or whether I should rank him at all!  I decided to slot him here at #29 because there seemed to be a tier break.  After mulling his situation for several months I have settled on a theory as to why his career went off the rails so badly and how he might get it back on.  I have seen Tyler Beede pitch twice in person, once for San Jose in 2015 just before his promotion to AA and in SJ's season opener in 2018 when he was reassigned at the last minute to avoid a potential rainout of Sacramento's opener.  I also watched him pitch on TV in his MLB debut.  Here is my theory in a nutshell:  The kid just has too many pitches!

Young Beedah came out of college with a classic 3-pitch arsenal:  4 Seam FB, Curveball and changeup.  The FB was low-mid 90's and the curveball and changeup were both considered plus pitches.  The concern was with his command.  After pitching a few innings in rookie and short season ball after the draft, the Giants placed him in A+ San Jose for his first full pro season, an aggressive placement, but expected for a first round draft pick coming out of a major college program.  Here's where things got a bit strange.  For the first several starts for San Jose, the Giants asked him to exclusively throw 2 new pitches, a 2-seam FB and a cutter.  Reports at the time indicated that once he mastered those 2 pitches, they would allow him to add in is previous repertoire.

I saw his 9'th start of the 2015 season.  I believe I saw all 5 of his pitches in that game and he was dominant with 11 K's and 1 BB in 7 IP.  That would be the best start of his pro career by a fair margin.  His next start was in AA and it looked like he might be in the majors by midseason of 2016. That was not to be.  Although he has had some decent stretches the command and stuff are erratic with maddeningly inconsistent results.  In his Opening Day start for San Jose last season, he seemed to have the same pitch mix.  Although he threw some good looking pitches, it was hard to see them fitting into any game plan and many were kind of flat, not crisp.  Same thing in is MLB debut which did not go well.  Although his K numbers for the Giants look good, it seemed like he did not have any reliable putaway pitch.

The current hot trend in pitching analytics is to eliminate less effective pitches and pare down pitching repertoires to each pitcher's best 2-3 for SP's and 1-2 for RP's.  Don't give hitter's breaks by offering them more hittable pitches?  The other hot trend is to get away from 2-seamer's and sinkers which tend to groove right into the new uppercut launch angles and go above the bat with 4-seamers up in the zone.  So, here is DrB's Rx for Tyler Beede:  Figure out your 3 best pitches(likely the original 4-seam, curve and change) and junk the other two.  He might need to throw the curve and change more often(another hot trend).

I don't know if Tyler Beede's pro career is salvageable at this point, but I think that is his best shot.  He obviously cannot be counted on for any contribution at the MLB level in 2019.