Yankees Long-Forgotten Prospect Showing Signs of Dominance Once Again

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New York Yankees pitcher Brendan Beck

To borrow a phrase from the great Mark Twain, reports of Brendan Beck ’s death have obviously been greatly exaggerated.

A second-round pick for the New York Yankees in 2021, Beck had team officials downright giddy about his potential. Beck was a four-year starting pitcher at Stanford University , where he went 22-10 with a 3.11 ERA and 289 strikeouts in 289.1 innings.

“We think he could be really close,” Damon Oppenheimer, vice-president and director of amateur scouting for the New York Yankees, said a day after the draft . “There’s not a lot that has to happen with him. There’s not a lot of development that has to go in. He just probably needs to build up innings. … We think we’re getting a high-end starter.”

The pre-draft scouting report on the 6-foot-2, 218-pound right-hander from La Jolla, CA, indicated that while not overpowering, Beck was an athlete with an uncanny “feel” for the art of pitching.

“He has impressive command of four pitches, stays on the attack and is exceptionally poised on the mound,” the report read. “His mid-80s changeup is an above-average pitch he is comfortable throwing to righties or lefties in any count, his low-80s slider is an average offering that gets swings and misses and his curveball is a usable fourth offering in the upper 70s. He effectively mixes his pitches to keep hitters guessing and ties everything together with above-average control. Beck is rarely fazed on the mound and has a tendency to step up in big moments. He is a good athlete with a strong, durable frame and lasts deep into his starts. Beck’s velocity uptick has pushed him into top-three rounds consideration for some teams. He projects as a back-of-the-rotation starter who has a chance to be more.”

And that may still be the case, just not as quickly as originally hoped.

Brendan Beck’s Path to MLB Derailed by Multiple Surgeries

Soon after he was drafted, Beck was diagnosed with a torn UCL and needed Tommy John surgery, which delayed the start of his professional career for nearly two years. When he did finally take the mound for High-A Hudson Valley in June to August of 2023, Beck got the organization’s optimism rolling once again, posting a 1.74 ERA over 31.0 innings pitched, with 35 strikeouts and seven walks.

“Beck’s surgery stopped him from being the fast riser the Yankees thought they were acquiring, but he remains a plus arm,” wrote Adam Weinrib of the New York-focused FanSided site Yanks Go Yard. “The road might look different, but the player appears to be the same. Expect that rapid rise in 2024 and a potential big-league chance the next season, if New York is able to hold onto him.”

But the injury bug would bite Beck again, and he was put on the “full-season injured list ” for all of 2024 after undergoing another surgical procedure on his elbow prior to spring training. At that point, it seemed overly optimistic to continue projecting Beck as a future member of the Yankees rotation.

Brendan Beck Earns League Honors in First Weeks of Comeback Attempt

However, four starts into the 2025 season, Beck once again is flashing his dominance on the mound.

Now pitching for Double-A Somerset, Beck is 2-0 with a 0.93 ERA, allowing just 10 hits and three walks with 19 strikeouts in 19.1 innings. He was particularly nasty in his second start of the season, pitching six hitless and scoreless innings with five strikeouts in a 6-1 win over the Altoona Curve on April 15, and Beck was named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for games played April 14-20.

“He doesn’t have great [velocity], but he can get it up to 93, 94 when he needs to,” said Ryan Garcia of the Fireside Yankees podcast . “Good vertical ride on the pitch, good slider, good changeup, good curveball. I’m really excited for Beck, and I think that he’s someone who the Yankees should get to Triple-A soon.”

Which obviously would be a welcome move for Beck, but he is just happy to be pitching anywhere again.

“I kind of take the results and throw them out the window at this point,” Beck said recently . “Just getting back on the field has been great. That’s my main focus. That’s what all the work has been for.”

Dave Benson Dave Benson is a longtime writer with over three decades of experience in a variety of mediums, including 15 years covering high school, collegiate and minor league sports in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Dave is also a licensed English teacher and spent a few years teaching at the middle school level. More about Dave Benson