Written by Greg Fertel
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20 May 2007
- Age: 26
- Height: 6'7"
- Weight: 215 lbs
- Drafted: 10th round in 2003 out of the University of Mississippi
- Position: Relief Pitcher
- Throws: Right
Scouting Report: Beam has been throwing at 92-93 this season, which is down a tick from what he was at last year. Being a tall guy, he creates a good top-down plane on his fastball, although it lacks late movement. He backs it up with a plus slider. Like Claggett, Beam has excellent command of his slider, although he is less willing to throw it earlier in the count. Beam likes to get right handed batters out with a high fastball with two strikes, but also has the slider to throw down to keep hitters guessing. He has experimented with other pitches in the past, but has found little success.
History: The Yankees drafted Beam as a starting pitcher back in 2003 out of college at the age of 23. He struggled in the low minors for the better part of two seasons as a starting pitcher. He posted good strikeout numbers, but his command was not there and it resulted in a lot of walks and home runs. Once converted to the bullpen, Beam soared. He bore through South Atlantic League and Florida State League hitters in 2005, putting up an ERA of 1.98 in 76 innings with 105 (11.6 per 9) strikeouts against 25 (2.7 per 9) walks. The Yankees added Beam to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule V draft, and sent him to Trenton. There, he was even better, putting up an ERA of 0.86 in 42 innings before being promoted to Columbus. At Columbus, his ERA stood at 1.71 in 31.2 innings. All the while, he was seeing time in the major leagues, but got rocked nearly every outing. Beam entered 2007 high on the Yankee depth charts with injuries to Humberto Sanchez and J.B. Cox.
This Season: Beam started the season strong, not allowing a run in his first 13 2/3 innings, but allowed 8 runs in 10 1/3 innings in his next 7 appearances until May 3rd. He has not pitched since with an unknown injury. His ERA for the season stands at 4.09 in 22 innings with 23 strikeouts and 8 walks. Batters are hitting only .286/.343/.374 this season despite a .364 BABIP. His injury status is uncertain, but the Yankees have been very cloudy with announcing minor league injuries this season.
Outlook and Movement: Beam is one year away by my definition of not being considered a prospect anymore. He had a super late start, so I'm not going to condemn his age yet. However, the prime of his career will only last so long, so Beam will have to make some kind of an impact this year to secure some kind of permanent major league spot. He's probably ready for the major leagues right now in a middle relief role, once he gets over whatever injury is ailing him.
Ranking: Beam dropped over ten spots since I ranked him last year. I still like his stuff, but I don't like the way lefties are beating him up. This season, lefties have batted .351/.415/.459 against him (albeit with a .500 BABIP) while righties have batted .241/.293/.315 (with an average .286 BABIP). His true abilities against lefties are better than that, with even splits last year, but historically Beam has struggled against opposite-side hitters. In addition, the injury situation has caused me to drop him down. I have faith that he'll pitch again in AAA fairly soon, but the decreased velocity makes me worry about arm issues. Scott Proctor didn't come around as a useful major leaguer until he was almost 29 years old.
Next up: Brett Smith at #26
