The Pivotal Role Tyler Beede Will Play in the Giants Success This Year

The San Francisco Giants, a team that plays within an increasingly challenging NL West division, will likely find themselves playing relevant baseball once again this coming season. After finishing last year dead last in the NL West with a 64-98 record and with a wrath of different injuries and under performance from several key players, San Francisco looks to get back to it's successful even year track record that the team experienced in 2010, 2012, and 2014 when it won the World Series all three years.

One of the biggest attributes of a successful Giants team lies within their starting rotation that is led by workhorse, Madison Bumgarner, and a rotation that includes the likes of Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, and Chris Stratton. While the Giants lost Matt Moore this winter to the Texas Rangers in a trade, it opens up a spot for competition during Spring Training among some intriguing candidates.

Those candidates include: former Rangers starting pitcher and MLB veteran, Derek Holland, along with in-house candidates Andrew Suarez and the aforementioned, Tyler Beede. Heading into this winter, Beede was a highly sought after pitching prospect by multiple teams, but the Giants were able to find a way to pull off trades for, outfielder, Andrew McCutchen, and third baseman, Evan Longoria, while holding onto their number one prized pitching prospect.

With Beede still within the organization, the Giants expect big things out of him this spring and are hopeful that he is able to live up to the hype that he once had when he was in the low minors. Beede, who will turn 25 in May,  finished last season in Triple-A with a 4.79 ERA over 109.0 IP, while recording a .282 Batting Average Against and 83 strikeouts. In addition, Beede surrendered 121 hits, 14 home runs, and 39 walks over that span as well.

Beede was originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1st Round of the 2011 Amateur Draft, but decided to head to Vanderbilt University before being chosen with the 14th overall pick by the San Francisco Giants three years later in 2014. A native of Massachusetts, Tyler Beede burst onto the scene with high expectations based on what scouts saw and quickly moved from A-Ball, where he recorded a 2.24 ERA in 52.1 IP, to Double-A where he got pounded pitching to the tune of a 5.23 ERA over 72.1 IP.

However, when the 2016 season rolled around, Beede quickly redeemed himself and was able to earn back his reputation as he finished the year with the best ERA in the Richmond League, 3.54, and ranked second in the league with 135 strikeouts over 147.1 IP. It was during the 2016 season that Tyler Beede was able to find his velocity once again and develop his pitches at a more sophisticated level. Since then, Beede has relied primarily on his fastball, but also has the ability to throw a curveball, changeup, and cutter. Out of those three, his best secondary pitch happens to be his curveball, which deceives hitters with the speed that he has on it, according to scouts.

Since the Giants have big expectations for Beede and Beede has big expectations for himself, this is the season that he finally needs to take a step forward and channels that long-term success that many believe he can have at the big league level. Part of that success will come from putting up a low walkout rate which he has shown that he can do since beginning with the Giants in 2014. When Beede first started out, he put up a walks-per-9 rate of 4.15, but has since lowered that to 3.22 last year in Triple-A.

With the questions that come within the Giants rotation, in regard to durability and health with
Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, and Jeff Samardzija, it is imperative that the team has valuable performances from candidates like Chris Stratton and Tyler Beede himself. Last season, Bumgarner hit the DL after a dirt biking accident in the Colorado mountains, which is really what set the Giants back and both Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija along with former starter, Matt Moore, struggled to find consistency and pick up the slack. Although Tyler Beede didn't get any MLB starts last season, Chris Stratton, did a very good job (posting a 3.68 ERA over 58.2 IP) which is why he should have the number 4 spot in the rotation locked down.

If Beede is able to put up a consistent strikeout-to-walk ratio this spring and can find his command like he did back in 2016, he should be more than capable of winning the number 5 spot out of camp. Even if he doesn't win that spot out of camp, he is a valuable depth piece for the Giants throughout this coming season should an injury happen to someone or if the team finds a trade scenario involving one of the other starters. As we all know, it does take time to adjust to pitching in the big leagues and it's trickier to get out big league hitters compared to in the minor leagues, so the Giants might be doing Beede a favor, if they elect to have him start the year in Triple-A with the Sacramento River Cats.

Regardless, if that situation happens, the Giants have shown plenty of patience with Beede and are willing to give him another shot. If that shot translates to helping the Giants play competitive baseball into September at the big league level or being a valuable depth piece down in Triple-A, has yet to be seen, but this is the year that Beede needs to take the next big step forward and show the entire industry that he can live up to the hype that surrounded him when he originally burst onto the scene and during the 2016 season. Since Beede will turn 25 in May, he still has yet to hit his prime, but if he wants to pitch in his prime with the Giants organization, then this is the year for him to be a difference maker.

Of course, the Giants success doesn't just ride on Beede's shoulders because as we all know it takes an entire 40-man roster to win a Championship, but as the old saying goes: pitching always win championships, which comes into play here and is something that Tyler Beede needs to remind himself of all year long whether he pitches at the big league level or down in Triple-A.