Beede’s breakout season in doubt with arm injuries
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> The Giants have known for quite some time what Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt are capable of when they’re playing well.
The organization still doesn’t know what pitcher Tyler Beede, the Giants’ 2014 first-round draft choice, can become.
That’s why the news Tuesday that Beede has been diagnosed with a right elbow sprain and a right flexor strain is hard to take for a pitcher and a team that believed 2020 was destined to be the starter’s breakout season.
The words “Tommy John surgery” haven’t been connected to Beede yet, but he will receive another opinion on his damaged elbow later this week. At best, Beede will miss valuable time at the beginning of a pivotal season as he recovers from an injury that could hamper his development. At worst, Beede will end up needing a surgical procedure to repair his arm, and the pitcher will confront an uncertain future.
For now, the Giants’ fifth starter competition is wide open and the final job could go to Dereck Rodríguez, Andrew Suárez or Logan Webb.
All three pitchers could also end up starting the year in the minors as the team may choose to see if non-roster invitees to major league camp such as Trevor Cahill or Tyson Ross can revitalize their careers.
Regardless of how the competition unfolds, Beede was the pitcher the Giants’ top decision-makers were silently rooting for to earn the job.
A new coaching staff that’s emphasizing player development created a plan for Beede over the offseason
the pitcher believed would take his game to the next level. They showed Beede analytics that suggested his curveball and changeup should be used more often and his fastball should be thrown less. They worked on adjustments in live batting practice and watched Beede touch 98 miles per hour on the radar gun when he threw his four-seamer in his Cactus League debut in Peoria last week.
The promising righthander thought he could model his approach on the mound after Washington Nationals star Stephen Strasburg, who decreased his fastball usage and increased the variety in his repertoire en route to winning the 2019 World Series MVP.
It’s been a long time since Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner emerged as long-term front-end starters in the rotation, and it’s been a rough last decade for the Giants on the development front. When a pipeline that was once flush with talent stopped producing elite arms, previous general managers Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans had to go outside the organization to fill holes the farm system could not.
From Tim Hudson and Jake Peavy to Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, the Giants bought stock in veteran arms because the returns on their pitching prospects began yielding minimal returns.
Once the Giants started to lose, the franchise committed
to an organizational outsider, Farhan Zaidi, who had helped build a sustainable model for success with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. Executives around the sport understand a strong farm system is paramount to contending on an annual basis, and when Bruce Bochy retired at the end of the 2019 season, Zaidi brought in the Dodgers’ former farm director, Gabe Kapler, to manage the Giants.
The Giants have been reluctant to call their current process a rebuild, instead calling 2020 a “season of transition” for the franchise. It doesn’t necessarily matter how Zaidi, Kapler or Giants executives define the year, because the club’s goals have become quite clear.
This year is about taking the next step, and it’s why Mauricio Dubón, Jaylin Davis and Webb will all get extended chances to prove whether they can stick. Beede was among the players slated to receive one of the biggest auditions.
After three consecutive losing seasons, the Giants have prioritized the development of inexperienced talent. They plan to add to a promising farm system and start clearing the way for the organization’s next championship core.
The process will take time, but it’s obvious Zaidi
and Kapler view Beede as a potential leader of the rotation for years to come. The issue? The soon-to-be 27-year-old has only made 24 career major league starts and has yet to demonstrate much consistency.
Beede has shown tantalizing potential, recording a combined 11 innings of one-run ball in a pair of road starts at Dodger Stadium last season while also mixing in an eight-inning, three-hit outing against the Mets in July. Despite the positives, Beede finished his rookie year with a 5.08 ERA and questions as to whether he might be bestserved pitching out of the bullpen instead of the rotation.
Under Zaidi and Kapler, the Giants brought in four major league pitching coaches this offseason to try and harness the potential of less experienced pitchers like Beede, who have collectively hit too many bumps in their journeys through the organization.
To pave the road ahead, the Giants have designed the 2020 season so players in Beede’s position can finally receive the right opportunity and overwhelmingly dedicated instruction.
The time had finally arrived for Beede to become an anchor in the Giants’ rotation. At least in the interim, the clock must be re-set.