Know Your Depth: Brendan Beck

By Andy Singer

July 8th, 2025

Photo Courtesy of the Somerset Patriots

When it rains, it pours. The Yankees came into the Spring Training with one of the best rotations in baseball on paper, though behind the front six starters, you could argue that it lacked a little depth. It's incredible what major injuries to a team's 3 best right-handed starters will do to a rotation. The icing on top was Clarke Schmidt's recent UCL tear, which was devastating, but also unfortunately expected.

While the Yankees have spent much of the season plugging holes with retreads and limping veterans like Marcus Stroman, Carlos Carrasco, and Allan Winans, the farm system is almost ready to provide recent Yankee draft picks to plug holes in the rotation. The first, and most deserving, prospect to get a shot with the big club is Cam Schlittler, a prospect about whom I've written previously. In looking at the minor league landscape, Schlittler is the name that jumped out to me first, but another surprised me when I went to look at the AAA rotation, one that might just be a factor this year: Brendan Beck.

The name should ring a bell. Beck was the Yankees' 2nd round draft pick in 2021 following a standout career at Stanford. In fact, many talent evaluators (myself among them) thought the Yankees got a steal by grabbing Beck in the 2nd round of the draft. Beck was the owner of a clean delivery, good command, and solid stuff. The hope was that the Yankees would help him add half a grade to his fastball and hone his secondary offerings to make him a fast-rising potential mid-rotation arm. Unfortunately, Beck required Tommy John Surgery soon after signing, and complications from that surgery have meant that prior to 2025, Beck had hardly pitched professionally.

Beck has flipped the narrative this year, pitching consistently and ripping through AA en route to a call-up to AAA in late June. Beck now has 3 starts under his belt for AAA Scranton, so we have a little bit more detail about who he is today.

As an amateur, Beck lived in the low-90s with his fastball, but was able to dial it up as high as 96 MPH when he needed it, as he showed on occasion out of the bullpen for Stanford. The top-end velocity hasn't returned yet, but Beck has managed solid, if unspectacular velocity at AAA. Beck has averaged 92 MPH with his 4 seam fastball, more than enough velocity to be effective with good command. Beck has shown solid, if still developing, command with his fastball, generally living at the top of the zone with the pitch. Beck isn't able to blow the fastball by anyone, and the expected numbers show that it is hittable, but hitters haven't done a ton of damage with the fastball yet, though it is prone to hard fly balls.

Beck's best offering is his traditional slider, which averages 83.1 MPH with middling spin, though it is located very well, darting away from right-handed hitters low and away both in and just out of the zone. Beck has generated a whopping 45.5% whiff rate on the pitch while throwing it on just under a third of his pitches.

Beck's curveball, which he uses to hitters on both sides of the plate, isn't located particularly well, nor does it seem to fool hitters much. It is almost certainly perceptible out of Beck's hand, as it averages 15.5 MPH less velocity than his fastball and his arm angle rises significantly at release.

Lastly, Beck has flashed limited use of a change-up in a similar velocity band to his slider, though the pitch has the most impressive spin profile of any of his pitches. Beck clearly doesn't trust the pitch, and it is located badly, but the pitch has really solid tumble. I can't help but think the Yankees will help him improve this pitch over time.

For more on Beck's pitch locations, check out his AAA pitch chart:

Interestingly, Beck is back to being reasonably close to who he was in 2021, despite the serious problems he's experienced in his right elbow. His slider is playing well above what I ever expected it to when he was drafted, and his fastball is located well enough to allow his other pitches to play up.

At the end of the day, Beck is a pitcher, not a thrower. As Beck throws more innings, I fully expect him to get more comfortable, throw more competitive fastballs, and possibly even gain some stuff, particularly as he gets further away from the injuries that have plagued him early on in his career. It is no small feat that we're discussing Beck as a potential depth arm for the Yankees in 2025, and he deserves a lot of credit for putting himself in that conversation.

Behind Schlittler and Carlos Carrasco (we've seen that movie already, and I don't think any of us want to repeat it), I think Brendan Beck is the next man up in the Yankee farms system. He isn't flashy, but I still believe that we could look up in 5 years and realize that Beck is partway through a solid career as a back-of-the-rotation arm. Beck needs to find a pitch that can reliably put hitters away aside from his slider, particularly to left-handed batters, but I really think that's the last bit of real development left for Beck in the minor leagues. With an ERA that is barely over 2.00 between AA and AAA, there isn't going to be much left for Beck to prove outside of hitting developmental goals with his stuff, location, and health.

In a perfect world, the Yankees would be able to just leave Beck in AAA for the remainder of the year while he rediscovers the elements that made him an exciting prospect on draft day 4 years ago. Given the state of the Yankee rotation, he may not have the luxury of sitting in the minors all year. Beck needs a little more seasoning, but he is very close to being a viable fill-in starter in 2025, with an eye towards competing for a rotation spot on a full-time basis in 2026.