Genevieve Beacom - What Do We Have Here?

[pokey_reese]

She's a teenager pitching in Australia's top league (of men) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/sports/baseball/genevieve-beacom-australia.html

The article describes her as "a rangy lefty with a looping curveball" and "6 feet 2 inches, with a fastball that tops out at 84 miles per hour, a solid changeup and that elliptical curve" who dreams of next playing college ball in the US. Thinking of her as a prospect, how many MPH do we think she has to add to that fastball to get a real look over the next few years? Obviously, crafty lefties with good offspeed stuff traditionally don't need to be flamethrowers even at the highest level, but it's also not at all unrealistic to expect a 17-year old to improve with better training and mechanical instruction over a few years.

The article described the quality of competition as between A and AA, though the league has cancelled the actual season so they are currently just playing on a barnstorming tour (but with real players), so she is facing decent hitters and getting them out. Most of the article is about her journey/story, but it's intriguing to dream on the profile of what would be a decent high school prospect in the US.

It seems like pro sports are inching towards breaking this barrier, maybe a placekicker in football as has been discussed, etc., but it seems like there aren't that many serious prospects, so I thought she deserved a thread to discuss (if mods feel like I'm wrong about that, or I put it in the wrong place, feel free to remedy).

 

[RG33]

That is really cool.

Listening to those announcers though, they were so over-the-top with effusive praise for some very mediocre pitches. It was kind of funny.

 

[santadevil]

This is great to see. I imagine her dream of playing college ball in the US should be easily achieveable. Might not be D1, but she throws harder than I did at that age, plus she's a lefty. I was able to obtain a scholarship as a pitcher to the US as well and earned my degree. There will be schools that want her talents on the mound

I'm rooting for her

 

[NJ_Sox_Fan]

If she throws 84, I’d imagine another 4-6mph would be enough as a lefty, no?

 

[luckiestman]

If she throws 84, I’d imagine another 4-6mph would be enough as a lefty, no?

I knew a D1 (lowere level) guy, student of mine I used to go watch, that maybe could get 84. Total offspeed lefty junk baller. He never had pro scouts looking at him but he won a lot of games.

 

[pokey_reese]

If she throws 84, I’d imagine another 4-6mph would be enough as a lefty, no?

Max, right? I mean, as others have pointed out, the arsenal is probably already enough to pitch for a college team. Adding a little velocity is what gets her into a D1 program or the minor leagues.

 

[mikcou]

She can play D1 throwing 84-85.

There was a guy from my high school close to 20 years ago who played major D1 baseball and maxed at 85. Not only was he a weekend starter, he kicked around the low minors for 4-5 years before giving up. Plenty of good college pitchers who operate below 90. They just arent going anywhere professionally.

 

[Tokyo Sox]

The Melbourne Aces have a Sox connection btw - Coach Jon Deeble is a former Lowell Spinners manager and was the Red Sox Asia Pac scouting coordinator for about 15 years. They're my ABL team because of him and are a fun follow on Twitter. Beacom is just another good reason to root for them. I'll be following her career there and pulling for her.

 

[BigMike]

She can play D1 throwing 84-85.

There was a guy from my high school close to 20 years ago who played major D1 baseball and maxed at 85. Not only was he a weekend starter, he kicked around the low minors for 4-5 years before giving up. Plenty of good college pitchers who operate below 90. They just arent going anywhere professionally.

We''ll maybe depending on how good her other stuff is.

There are a ton of 18 HS boys who can throw an 84 MPH fastball, who never pitch college baseball.

This is not meant to put her down, I haven't seen her play. Just saying when you throw 84, you need to have some really special other qualities to make it to a division 1 college

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Glad to see this New Hope isn’t another knuckleballer like Eri Yoshida. Would love to see her against the boys. As already said, 84 and lefty should have some success.

We also had this attempt a few years ago

https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/female-joins-plays-in-all-male-puerto-rico-league.27263/#post-3406707

 

[Way2Low]

Remember Jamie Moyer?

 

[Time to Mo Vaughn]

Remember Jamie Moyer?

I know the first name is ambiguous, but he was a guy.

 

[mikcou]

We''ll maybe depending on how good her other stuff is.

There are a ton of 18 HS boys who can throw an 84 MPH fastball, who never pitch college baseball.

This is not meant to put her down, I haven't seen her play. Just saying when you throw 84, you need to have some really special other qualities to make it to a division 1 college

Well of course the guy I mentioned had two very good (for college) off speed pitches and could generally put all three where he wanted, but he was also a righty and led a P5 program rotation and was ultimately drafted. She does not need to have that level of talent to get a generic pitching spot at a D1 program unless you are really limiting down to the traditional power programs.

Edit: There was a guy who I played against who was a UMaine scholarship starter. There was nothing special about his other pitches and he sat in the low 80s.

 

[tims4wins]

Remember Jamie Moyer?

I know the first name is ambiguous, but he was a guy.

Pretty sure the post is referring to the fact that Moyer's fastball was low 80s in his final years

 

[pokey_reese]

Glad to see this New Hope isn’t another knuckleballer like Eri Yoshida. Would love to see her against the boys. As already said, 84 and lefty should have some success.

We also had this attempt a few years ago

https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/female-joins-plays-in-all-male-puerto-rico-league.27263/#post-3406707

Yeah, I think that difference is what really got my attention on this story. The fact that there isn't anything clearly 'gimmicky' here (and I'm using that term loosely enough to include throwing a knuckleball) about her skills, and her age (implying room for future growth rather than a player at her ceiling) makes this feel like there is more potential than the other examples I've seen.

 

[Way2Low]

I know the first name is ambiguous, but he was a guy.

See tim4wins post....

 

[Just a bit outside]

I don't know about today, I assume everyone throws harder, but 30 years ago when I played D1 84 mph was plenty fast enough. Our staff had a few that sat high 80's-low 90's, probably the majority in mid/low 80's and even a few that were below 80 but had great control and filthy offspeed stuff.

Jamie Moyer is an outlier and I bet he threw high 80's when he was a rookie in 1986 and it was a different era of pitch speed. He never gets the chance to pitch in the majors if he was throwing 80 mph as a twenty year old.

 

[wiffleballhero]

I always assumed curveballs spun the opposite direction in Australia.

In any case, that is a really nice, big bender. She is certainly good enough to pitch DIII right now, I'd think. DI? Above my pay grade to guess, especially since the video I watched was not long enough to really get a sense of her command. I hope it works out.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

At D1 you don’t have to have huge velocity to get outs, the problem is that if you top off in the low 80s you can’t make ANY mistakes, or they’re going a long way the other way…

 

[shaggydog2000]

Yeah, I think that difference is what really got my attention on this story. The fact that there isn't anything clearly 'gimmicky' here (and I'm using that term loosely enough to include throwing a knuckleball) about her skills, and her age (implying room for future growth rather than a player at her ceiling) makes this feel like there is more potential than the other examples I've seen.

We also can't assume that a girl will mature the same way and add velocity in their late teenage years the way a boy would. Working out more and refining mechanics will help, but boys often add a lot of muscle between 17 and 25. And we all know from watching players that get called up that all fastballs of the same velocity are not the same. She's going to need some real quality at the speed she pitches. But best of luck to her and it would be fun to hear about her again.

 

[pokey_reese]

We also can't assume that a girl will mature the same way and add velocity in their late teenage years the way a boy would. Working out more and refining mechanics will help, but boys often add a lot of muscle between 17 and 25. And we all know from watching players that get called up that all fastballs of the same velocity are not the same. She's going to need some real quality at the speed she pitches. But best of luck to her and it would be fun to hear about her again.

That's a great point about the physical maturation process, and it shouldn't be overlooked. I'm just thinking back to all of the times I've read about raw prospects, and how scouts/coaches talk about them having projection for more velocity based on learning to use their legs better, tweak their delivery, etc.. I'm assuming that a teen girl growing up playing baseball in Australia may not have fully maxxed out the technique side of things just yet, in addition to the benefit of physically training like a pro/collegiate athlete in a dedicated program, rather than a high school kid. Certainly, also, mph isn't the only measure of a fastball that matters, but the article and success she has had so far makes it sound like there is at least some floor of pitchability there.

 

[Tokyo Sox]

Bump. She's hitting now too: https://www.mlb.com/news/genevieve-beacom-could-be-australia-female-ohtani

As for the future, anything is still possible. Though the Australian women's national team won't have a World Cup to prepare for, Beacom will certainly find herself on a ballfield soon. She plans to take a gap year and then hopes to head to college where she'll play baseball and compete for a national title.

She's 18, will be 19 in October. The article talks about her working with a pitcher development program in North Carolina but it doesn't seem like she's added any velo in the last ~18 months since the thread was started.