Jalen Beeks to start on Thursday, Alex Cora said

[Rasputin]

"
"Jalen Beeks to start on Thursday, Alex Cora said" per Evan Drellich in a tweet.

I think this is cool. I know it's mentioned as a possibility/probability in the DL thread, but fuck that, a kid making his debut deserves his own goddamn thread.

 

[Cuzittt]

He was supposed to start in Pawtucket last night (Tuesday), so I figured this was a possibility. He will be slightly over rested, hopefully to no ill affect.

 

[brandonchristensen]

I love rookie call ups. Always must watch TV!

 

[EllisTheRimMan]

Just checked out his milb stats. 0.98 WHIP in 10 starts. I’m curious to see how he looks tonight.

He’s another lefty. Remarkable how many potential LH starters the Sox could have pitch for the ML ball club this year.

 

[moondog80]

A bit of help, please, for someone who has only been paying half attention; if Beeks is taking Pomeranz' slot, why did Wright pitch last night?

 

[Byrdbrain]

Cora decided he wanted a spot starter which along with the day off gave everyone 2 extra days off.
He was so committed to the 2 extra days that he decided not to slot Sale in on Thursday when he still could have pitched with one extra day.
This should be a one time deal with Wright replacing Pomeranz in the rotation moving forward.

 

[moondog80]

Cora decided he wanted a spot starter which along with the day off gave everyone 2 extra days off.
He was so committed to the 2 extra days that he decided not to slot Sale in on Thursday when he still could have pitched with one extra day.
This should be a one time deal with Wright replacing Pomeranz in the rotation moving forward.

Makes sense. Thanks!

 

[EdRalphRomero]

I read this optimistically regarding Mookie as well. Beeks can start on Thursday, and be sent down the next day when Mookie is activated.

On the SoxProspects podcast they were talking about the addition of a cutter by Beeks really fueling his rise this year. They called it his best pitch. I am very much looking forward to watching him pitch!

 

[Al Zarilla]

The Thursday (Beeks) game is on ESPN.

 

[uncannymanny]

If his clubhouse nickname isn’t Beeker it’s an organizational failure. Really looking forward to this too! It’s been a while since we’ve had a SP come up with expectations higher than “rotation filler” (with that I fully expect to be corrected about who I’m forgetting).

 

[Ale Xander]

Hopefully he has the debut of a Morton and the staying power of a Clemens

 

[E5 Yaz]

Always good strategy to bring up a potential trade chip to give interested teams a look-see

 

[brandonchristensen]

With our recent years of calling up players really young, him being 24 actually feels old.

Sox have had some tremendous success with their bats the past 5 or so years.

 

[Savin Hillbilly]

If his clubhouse nickname isn’t Beeker it’s an organizational failure. Really looking forward to this too! It’s been a while since we’ve had a SP come up with expectations higher than “rotation filler” (with that I fully expect to be corrected about who I’m forgetting).

I think the most recent debut of a homegrown SP who was considered a bonafide prospect would be Henry Owens: August 4, 2015. Brian Johnson and EdRo had their debuts the same year, but earlier.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

If his clubhouse nickname isn’t Beeker it’s an organizational failure. Really looking forward to this too! It’s been a while since we’ve had a SP come up with expectations higher than “rotation filler” (with that I fully expect to be corrected about who I’m forgetting).

Do guys who failed to meet "higher than rotation filler" expectations count? Because Henry Owens and Anthony Ranaudo up came with a fair degree of hype (and flaws). Same with Rubby De la Rosa and Allen Webster as well. They not be well remembered, but I think Beeks fits with them in terms of expectations more so than someone like Buchholz or Lester or Papelbon when they made their debuts.

 

[grimshaw]

Beeks had very little ink before last year. Even guys like Johnson, Ranaudo, Bowden and others mentioned had some national projection as back end rotation guys and were on top 100 lists. Beeks never approached a top prospects list and appears to be a late bloomer.

I'm going to guess very few Red Sox fans outside of SOSH know who he is even now. It's nice to have zero expectations. He's a 12th round draft pick, so his career is already a success.

 

[chrisfont9]

Always good strategy to bring up a potential trade chip to give interested teams a look-see

Is that what this is? I'd think they were gently breaking him in for their own purposes, not to deal him away. The Sox need both a spot starter now as well as some long-term options there, from their own system for a change.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

If his clubhouse nickname isn’t Beeker it’s an organizational failure. Really looking forward to this too! It’s been a while since we’ve had a SP come up with expectations higher than “rotation filler” (with that I fully expect to be corrected about who I’m forgetting).

Yeah, instead of "rotation filler" it's "most likely headed to the bullpen".

I like him and maybe he does stick as a starter and surprises us all but he doesn't have higher expectations than Henry Owens, Brian Johnson, RDLR etc.

 

[Bosox1528]

Honest question:

Is Beeks our top prospect at this point?

Looking at Sox prospects top 10, Beeks is ranked 5th.

The 4 guys above him have had massively disappointing seasons.

Groome had TJ, Mata and Houck have walked more people than they've K'd and Chavis got suspended for PEDs

If you ask me which one out of all our prospects has the highest career WAR when their career is over I'm picking Beeks

 

[Dewey'sCannon]

This could be an early audition in the competition for a rotation spot next year, with Pom a FA.

 

[chrisfont9]

The Globe has a feature up now on how he's completely changed his arsenal. So his past pedigree and performances, prior to last year, probably don't carry much predictive value. He's a guy who's averaged 10+ k/9 with a tolerable walk rate for more than a season now in high minors. How his stuff plays in the majors is an open question, but I'd ignore much of anything he did before last year with a whole different set of pitches.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

Honest question:

Is Beeks our top prospect at this point?

Looking at Sox prospects top 10, Beeks is ranked 5th.

The 4 guys above him have had massively disappointing seasons.

Groome had TJ, Mata and Houck have walked more people than they've K'd and Chavis got suspended for PEDs

If you ask me which one out of all our prospects has the highest career WAR when their career is over I'm picking Beeks

Maybe, which is kinda sad.

I'd guess out of all our prospects, the guy who has the highest career WAR is someone in the low minors that no one knows.

 

[EdRalphRomero]

Honest question:

Is Beeks our top prospect at this point?

Looking at Sox prospects top 10, Beeks is ranked 5th.

The 4 guys above him have had massively disappointing seasons.

Groome had TJ, Mata and Houck have walked more people than they've K'd and Chavis got suspended for PEDs

If you ask me which one out of all our prospects has the highest career WAR when their career is over I'm picking Beeks

Well Bryan Mata is 19 (turned 19 last month) and has held opponents to a .221 average in high A. He probably has higher upside and a lower floor than Beeks.

Chavis put up a combined .910 OPS across high A and AA last year (and I'm not sure how much to really weight the suspension).

I'd put both of them ahead of Beeks. I have no idea how to think about Groome. And I don't know anything about Houck really.

 

[DJnVa]

Love debuts. Should be fun. Can't wait for Bill Simmons tweet "Jalen Beeks??? Another member of the Reggie Cleveland All Stars!"

 

[grimshaw]

Here's a fangraphs fringe five article from May on him with gifs of his strikeouts. Interesting that a disproportionate amount of them are from called strike threes. Hopefully he has the deception thing going for him.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-fringe-five-baseballs-most-compelling-fringe-prospects-107/

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Love debuts. Should be fun. Can't wait for Bill Simmons tweet "Jalen Beeks??? Another member of the Reggie Cleveland All Stars!"

If there aren't about six references/memes in the game thread involving this guy, we've failed as a society.

 

[uncannymanny]

I guess folks are correct, he’s viewed no higher than Owens, Johnson, and some others were at this point in their careers. I guess I just never bought that HO’s stuff would play in the majors, but Beeks doesn’t have standout “stuff” either.

Hoping that report on the new cutter is accurate (and what would a Sox pitching prospect be without adding a cutter right around their debut).

I didn’t include EdRo because he was acquired with much of his initial development in the bag.

 

[The Talented Allen Ripley]

Beeks can throw a little harder than Owens and has better control, so I'd judge him to be a better prospect than Owens proved to be. That being said, Beeks's ceiling is likely as a back-end starter or bullpen arm.

 

[uk_sox_fan]

Beeks can throw a little harder than Owens and has better control, so I'd judge him to be a better prospect than Owens proved to be. That being said, Beeks's ceiling is likely as a back-end starter or bullpen arm.

John Kelly has better control of the POTUS twitter account than Owens has of his fastball (well, not really...) so I hope Beeks has better control.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

Beeks seems more in line with a prospect like Felix Doubront who was never rated but had some success. That does have value.

 

[Humphrey]

If there aren't about six references/memes in the game thread involving this guy, we've failed as a society.

I posted a picture of Mr. Beeks on BSMW at 3:30; proof that great minds think alike!

 

[uncannymanny]

Beeks seems more in line with a prospect like Felix Doubront who was never rated but had some success. That does have value.

This seems like an entirely fair comparison wrt rating.

 

[bosockboy]

Doubront gave us some unsung quality work in the 2013 postseason.

 

[etakbear]

The Thursday (Beeks) game is on ESPN.

Is it possible to watch ESPN online?

 

[Al Zarilla]

Is it possible to watch ESPN online?

I don’t know.

 

[Curt S Loew]

Give him #21.

 

[ehaz]

Here's a fangraphs fringe five article from May on him with gifs of his strikeouts. Interesting that a disproportionate amount of them are from called strike threes. Hopefully he has the deception thing going for him.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-fringe-five-baseballs-most-compelling-fringe-prospects-107/

The criticisms that he’s been lucky/getting Ks without a lot of swinging strikes are unfounded and poorly researched by fangraphs.

Jalen Beeks has the 61st ranked swinging-strike rate at 14.1% (among all minor leaguers), but in comparison, Chris Sale's career SwSt% in the Majors is 12.6%. He's also ahead of #RealPitchingProspects like Justus Sheffield, Alex Faedo, Stephen Gonsalves, etc.

 

[RIrooter09]

Is it possible to watch ESPN online?

Yes. Just select the game on ESPN's home page and click watch. It will then ask you for your cable login info.

 

[etakbear]

Yes. Just select the game on ESPN's home page and click watch. It will then ask you for your cable login info.

Rats. No cable. Thanks though.

 

[sean1562]

Is it possible to watch ESPN online?

Reddit r/mlbstreams

 

[Rasputin]

Honestly, if he does well tomorrow, I'm penciling him in as our lefty reliever deadline acquisition.

 

[DanoooME]

If there aren't about six references/memes in the game thread involving this guy, we've failed as a society.

And when he gets sent back down to Pawtucket, we can say "I don't seem to recall a Beeks working for the firm, sir".

 

[bosockboy]

And when he gets sent back down to Pawtucket, we can say "I don't seem to recall a Beeks working for the firm, sir".

I’ve seen an outlay in the payroll of $50000 for him. He will be fine.

 

[Sausage in Section 17]

Let's call him Clarence....


He better put up a bunch of zeros.....or it's the ape suit!

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

And when he gets sent back down to Pawtucket, we can say "I don't seem to recall a Beeks working for the firm, sir".

No, no, no. After he gets sent down, we'll be shouting "Where the hell is Beeks?"

 

[budcrew08]

Is it possible to watch ESPN online?

Download Watch ESPN app, sign in through your cable provider.

 

[PrometheusWakefield]

Honest question:

Is Beeks our top prospect at this point?

Looking at Sox prospects top 10, Beeks is ranked 5th.

The 4 guys above him have had massively disappointing seasons.

Groome had TJ, Mata and Houck have walked more people than they've K'd and Chavis got suspended for PEDs

If you ask me which one out of all our prospects has the highest career WAR when their career is over I'm picking Beeks

Yes. By a lot.

 

[Pozo the Clown]

Honestly, if he does well tomorrow, I'm penciling him in as our lefty reliever deadline acquisition.

By "him" do you mean Beeks or Pom?

 

[Rasputin]

By "him" do you mean Beeks or Pom?

Heh, I meant Beeks. Pomeranz' bullpenability depends more on Wright, methinks.

Hell, if Wright succeeds in the rotation and Beeks looks like he can do the job, I'd have absolutely no problem having both of them in the bullpen for September and October. There are few enough lefties on the Yankees and Stros that we could probably get through an entire LCS while bringing in a lefty every single time they come up in the 7th or later.

Of course, that presupposes a lot of things.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

I'm guessing Swihart has caught Beeks a couple times in AAA, if that sort of thing is worth anything.