Brendan Beck was selected out of Stanford by the Yankees in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft, and while injuries have limited him to just 10 starts above rookie ball, there’s reason to believe he could rocket up their farm system. The Yankees lack upper-level MiLB pitching depth, and Beck is building up more and more towards getting ready for the pro season and making an impact in their farm system.
He toed the slab in yesterday’s round of live batting practice over at their Minor League Complex on Himes Street in Tampa, and after surrendering a bomb to OF Jace Avina, he locked in and looked sharp. A myriad of high fastballs, sharp cutter/sliders, good changeups, and slow breaking balls resulted in a ton of swings and misses against the batters he faced.
It was one outing, but the kind of outing that is eerily similar to what we saw at Stanford, where he was a tough competitor who looked pro-ready.
The Yankees’ Depth Issues Could Open Doors For Brendan Beck
Brendan Beck’s lone pro season came in 2023, where he pitched to a 1.74 ERA across nine starts with the Hudson Valley Renegades, striking out 29.2% of batters faced with a 5.8% walk rate. He ended that season on the IL in mid-August, but from the limited work we saw, the productivity and talent were still there and I had faith he could have a big year in 2024. Instead, he underwent season-ending surgery again, and the Yankees would have to wait even longer to see him on a pro mound.
On my first day at MiLB camp, I was tipped off about Brendan Beck being healthy again and even throwing, but I simply believed he had been cleared to begin throwing. To my surprise, I saw him a day later on the live BP card, set to throw 49 pitches in three innings of work, which is a pretty significant workload that indicates he isn’t far away from being activated off the IL. Whether he opens the season with Hudson Valley or Somerset remains to be seen, as is whether he’ll be healthy for Opening Day or not, but he didn’t look like a pitcher who hasn’t pitched in a pro game since 2023.
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A lot of the pitchability that Brendan Beck displayed at Stanford shined yesterday, as the right-hander was able to keep hitters off-balance and attack the zone all afternoon. He threw four different pitches yesterday and threw each of them pretty well, allowing him to miss bats and get some weak contact. He picked up four strikeouts and a healthy dose of groundballs, with the aforementioned blast by Jace Avina being his lone blemish on the day.
The question with Beck has never been talent, but his lack of availability has made it hard to envision a long-term future without overcoming some dim odds. Not many pitchers can have two elbow surgeries in the span of three years and have a long career pitching after, but the right-hander looks to be a late bloomer who lives up to that high-draft status. It wouldn’t be fair to classify this pick as one the Yankees botched, injuries can happen (especially in the elbow) at random, but it would sure help them to have Brendan Beck healthy and dominating at the start of the 2025 season.
Thatcher Hurd and Chase Hampton undergoing Tommy John Surgery at the MiLB level, Gerrit Cole undergoing TJS at the MLB level, and Luis Gil being sidelined with a high-grade lat strain has immediately put their pitching staff in a terrible situation. The Yankees don’t have many arms in Double-A who are MLB-ready right now, as Cam Schlittler and Ben Shields both need more time before I’d feel comfortable giving either of them the nod to take the mound in the Bronx.
Add on the uncertainty surrounding the viability of Will Warren and Marcus Stroman, both of whom are expected to break camp in the rotation, and the Yankees could use a youthful injection from someone like Brendan Beck in 2025. It is a career-defining season for Brendan Beck, whose age and advanced feel for a deep arsenal could make him the quick riser that Damien Oppenheimer forecasted he could be when the team selected him back in 2021.
Even if he isn’t a future All-Star, I’m just happy to see him on a mound healthy again. If there’s any testament to his makeup, he was a Stanford graduate who rocked a 3.63 GPA and refused to let obstacles prevent him from chasing the big-league dream. You can see that intelligent background in the way he pitches, and if the stuff comes back to where it was when he was drafted, he could be a dangerous weapon in the Yankees’ farm system this season.