The Twins have signed infielder Tim Beckham, the top overall pick in the 2008 amateur draft, to a minor-league deal, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported this morning. Darren Wolfson of Minneapolis’ KSTP News reports that the deal will pay Beckham roughly $1MM should he make the big-league roster.
Beckham signed with the Rays for a then-record $6.15MM (the Giants gave Buster Posey, drafted fifth overall the same year, $6.2MM shortly thereafter) but never quite hit his stride in the minors, posting a solid-if-unspectacular .275/.328/.389 line as a 19-year-old at Low-A Bowling Green in 2009 and a similar .256/.346/.359 line at High-A Charlotte in 2010. Near-identical numbers at Double-A Montgomery in 2011 earned him a 24-game stint at Triple-A Durham, but he hit his first major snag in 2012, when a second positive test for what MLB calls “drugs of abuse” (a set of non-performance-enhancing recreational drugs that includes marijuana) landed him a 50-game suspension.
After repeating Triple-A in 2013 (where his .276/.342/.387 batting line again effectively matched his standard minor-league output), Beckham logged eight trips to the plate across five games in the bigs after a September call-up. A torn ACL suffered during an offseason workout robbed the one-time top prospect of his 2014 season, and his production thereafter never approached the lofty expectations attached to a top overall pick. After posting a .247/.299/.421 line in 791 plate appearances across parts of four seasons in Tampa, the Rays shipped him to the Orioles for pitcher Tobias Myers at the 2017 trade deadline.
That 2017 season remains Beckham’s best, with his .278/.328/.454 overall line (including a .306/.348/.523 mark in 50 games in Baltimore) representing a clear high-water mark; his 22 homers, 62 RBIs, and 2.5 bWAR were also all career bests. In total, Beckham, who hasn’t seen the majors since logging time at five positions in 88 games with Seattle in 2019, has tallied a serviceable .249/.302/.431 triple-slash in parts of six big-league seasons. His 2019 season ended early after he tested positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol, earning him an 80-game suspension per the terms of MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
While it’s clear that Beckham — who’ll play at age 32 in 2022 — will never reach the ceiling many envisioned for the consensus top high school prospect in the 2008 draft, his career numbers suggest he might still be a useful big-league player, particularly given his positional versatility. The Twins are probably set at the corners between Josh Donaldson and Miguel Sano, but their middle infield remains in flux. Jorge Polanco is a certainty to man either second or shortstop — Luis Arraez could shift to an everyday role at the keystone if Polanco slots in at short — but manager Rocco Baldelli may prefer to move Arraez between second and third, particularly should the Twins look to keep Donaldson healthy through regular time at DH.
Royce Lewis (a former top pick himself, and who missed all of 2021 with his own ACL tear) remains the likely shortstop of the future in Minnesota, but he hasn’t played since 2019 and isn’t likely to see the bigs in 2022 unless he blows upper-minors competition out of the water for at least a few months. While the Twins were active at the periphery on some bigger names ahead of the lockout and will likely at least do their due diligence on Trevor Story whenever it ends, they’re much likelier to look for a short-term fix.
There’s every reason to expect Beckham to get a real shot to compete for a bench role in the Twin Cities, particularly if the club’s plan includes Arraez assuming a more regular starting role. As things stand now, he’d likely compete with Nick Gordon and perhaps prospect Austin Martin (who’s never played above Double-A but could be given a shot to compete for the starting role at short) for a utility role on the Twins bench.
Though he hasn’t seen the majors since 2019, Beckham did have his best minor-league seasons in 2021. He posted a .279/.330/.546 line in 45 games with the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the White Sox. If Beckham doesn’t make the big-league roster, the Twins could also look to stash him at Triple-A St. Paul as injury cover.
Dude hit the 10,000th home run in Orioles history…
and about 10 others
Dumpster diving twinkees
Do you understand what a minor-league deal means?
Nope none of us do except you. Thanks for being here to explain. Go on…..
His career OPS is only around .700 though. That’s pretty terrible. The drug issue seems like a bad omen as well. If it’s just marijuana that’s not a huge deal im and of itself but if you can’t put the weed down even to keep a job in professional baseball, that’s a pretty bad sign. Marijuana isn’t very addictive so if you can’t even refrain from that he’s probably got a pretty seriously addictive personality. I would say he should switch to alcohol since it’s legal but that might end up even worse. Weed really should be just as legal as alcohol but at the same time, refraining from weed to keep your career on path should be relatively easy compared to any other substances. The fact he had problems even with that could be seen as a huge red flag. It doesn’t really matter now though. His career is basically over.
terrible? that’s still better than most players can do.
Out of 132 qualified hitters last year, there were 31 (23.48%) with an OPS under his career 733.
I’m surprised it was that many. He’s still worse than more than 76% of the league though and that’s not even against major league pitching. With the exception of maybe some defensive specialists and catchers, most MLB position players should be able to hit for an OPS pretty close to .800. At least over .760. Especially if you were a #1 overall draft pick.
Over a thousand players play each year
The league average line for MLB shortstops last year was .262/.326/.428 with a .754 OPS and a WRC+ of 104. Beckham will have to provide some pretty sparkling defense to make up for his bat. From what I remember from his Rays career he wasn’t a solid defender. So I am assuming this signing is a mirror image of the Yankees signing Jose Peraza. Former solid prospects able to fill a spot until someone better comes along. Sad to see players with their pedigree get chance after chance when they have clearly shown they are AAAA players when so many players that have had very good to great seasons in the minors yet never sniff the Show. Rusney Castillo showed he was ready to play in MLB but his contract kept him in AAA through his prime because of luxury tax implications. Professional baseball is broken and only getting worse. The lockout is billionaires vs millionaires and of course the fans get screwed in the end. I don’t understand why pro sports still has so many fans.
He’s a terrible defender….and his nonchalant play pisses everybody off. As of now, a complete bust. BUT some guys wake up late; who knows?
@coffin: Rusney definitely should have been called up but I doubt he’s complaining. That contract the Red Sox gave him was incredibly irresponsible. They were paying him $12-17 million a year guaranteed to hit around .270 with 20 something home runs against minor league pitchers. He was worthy of a roster spot but he was nowhere near worth his salary. The Red Sox should have never paid him that much. If he were actually tearing the cover off the ball in triple-A like the Red Sox hoped when they paid him, he would have been called up. His production never matched his salary. In order for Rusney to be worth a spot on a major league roster he would have had to take a pay cut. My guess is Rusney is probably happy he got the money instead. That guy has to be the wealthiest minor league baseball player in history. He is definitely a very unique and interesting story though. I started paying attention to him his last clue years in the Red Sox system.
Isn’t Blankenhorn still with the Mets?
Nice catch! I obviously didn’t do due diligence myself on that one. Thanks, updated in the story.
Do due
Tim Beckham was suspended without pay for 80 games by Major League Baseball on August 6th of 2019 after testing positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing anabolic steroid. At that time there were only 48 games remaining on the Mariners schedule meaning that Beckham still has 32 games left to serve. He has never been promoted to an MLB roster since so it’s possible he may still need to fulfill the remainder of his suspension.
Beckham was a member of the White Sox organization last season but never got a call-up from AAA Charlotte. I can’t find any info as to whether Beckham still might need to serve those remaining 32 games or if there is some sort of ‘statute of limitations’ involved in the suspension rule that will allow Beckham to play another MLB game if and when he gets added to an MLB 40-man roster.
pretty sure no
I always mix him up with the other Beckham . Why because I see they where both drafted the same year .
Pitching… we don’t need no stinking pitching.. (SNL).. Gordon is slated to be the Super Utility guy… back up to Buxton, back up SS.. I expect Lewis to have the SS job out spring training if he hits at all..
Not that they’ve shown they want to make any big free agent pitching signings, but what does signing Beckham to a minor-league deal have to do with pitching?
examining the Twins… seeing where moves are pushing the team… this was a basically meaningless move.. in the face of the twins actual needs..
I remember when the rays first drafted Beckham. I was so pissed as I wanted posey. Im not always right with my picks, but I’d say I got that one.
He was doing pretty damn well at AAA for the White Sox in 2021 before getting injured. Worth a flyer for sure.
If I was putting up those numbers I’d smoke some marijuana to after being the top overall choice? Hope he makes it and becomes a late bloomer
He’s a dabbler
Nice for Beckham to get some play, but let’s be honest, the first go around was nothing to write home about. Best case scenario, everyone else gets hurt, Beckham is called on for 60 at bats, ends up with 20 hits, and gets a great Strat-O-Matic card on the way out the door.