Clayton Beeter has started 83 of his 92 career minor league games, but going forward, the right-hander will be used as a relief pitcher, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake told the New York Post’s Joel Sherman. “As we got through last year, [Beeter’s] fastball-slider mix is super powerful and is best suited for relief,” Blake said. “We decided to lean into the swing-and-miss of the fastball at the top of the zone and the slider at the bottom. We thought it might even play up in short bursts.”
The news isn’t too surprising, as ever since Beeter was a second-round selection for the Dodgers in the 2020 draft, some pundits have felt he would ultimately end up as a reliever at the big league level. Baseball America placed Beeter 21st on its most recent ranking of the Yankees’ top 30 prospects, and described the righty as a potential candidate for multi-inning relief work. The 26-year-old Beeter has actually only pitched in the majors as a reliever, as all three of his MLB appearances (3 2/3 total innings) came out of New York’s bullpen last season.
As Blake noted, Beeter relies heavily on a two-pitch arsenal, with a changeup and curveball used sparingly at the Triple-A level. Beeter’s fastball generally sits in the low 90’s but has topped out at 96mph, according to BA’s scouting report, and more velocity could be unlocked with this move to the bullpen. Beeter’s 60-grade slider is his most effective pitch, helping fuel much of the strikeout ability he has exhibited over his minor league career. Across an even 300 innings in the minors, Beeter has a very impressive 33.1% strikeout rate.
All those missed bats have come with a 12.7% walk rate, and the lack of control is another reason why the Yankees feel Beeter might benefit most from relief work. There’s also the health factor — Beeter was limited to 39 innings over 12 appearances in 2024 after shoulder problems cost him close to four months of the Triple-A season. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty) earlier this week that Beeter was dealing with another “shoulder issue” during the offseason but is back throwing side sessions.
Shifting Beeter to the pen makes sense as a bigger-picture move in the pitcher’s career, and the Yankees have enough rotation options on hand that they can probably afford to remove a starter from the depth chart. The club has six starting candidates on the active roster alone depending on Marcus Stroman’s status as either a reliever or possible trade chip, and such pitchers as Will Warren, Yoendrys Gomez, and Brent Headrick are available at Triple-A. New York also brought in Allan Winans on a waiver claim, and signed longtime veteran Carlos Carrasco to a minor league contract.
Since Beeter has two minor league options remaining, Sherman suggests that the right-hander will probably begin the 2025 season in Triple-A. This will also allow Beeter to more fully ramp up after his injury-plagued 2024 campaign, and get used to his new bullpen role. If all goes well, Beeter should receive a call-up at some point next season once injuries or a need for a fresh arm inevitably arises, and he’ll then get a chance to carve out a spot for himself as a regular member of the Yankees’ relief corps.
I wonder if he drives a Beeter for a car?
Not anymore.
Master Beeter?
A Saturn.
Guys like this can really pop when they move to a full time relief role, a little segway, I think BA and evaluators in general are to low on RP, late inning playoff baseball is dominated by relievers you almost never see starters going 7 8 9 anymore so quality and depth is key.
Well there’s one pitcher out of Stroman’s way.
“IMA STARTER. IMA STARTER.”
Marcus says…”Tru dat”.
Why does Kershaw’s wife never win at Monopoly?
Cause Clayton Beeter
He’ll be a shut-down reliever in the pen.
Owen White was dfa’d when the brought in Headrick, just FYI
Can be a real useful bullpen guy – maybe even high leverage. But hey, at least the Dodgers got Joey Gallo to strikeout for a few months!
Baseball America placed Beeter 21st on its most recent ranking of the Yankees’ top 30 prospects, and described the righty as a potential candidate for multi-inning relief work.
Considering the Yankees system develops a serviceable player about once every five years, that’s high praise.
@whyhayzee – In the last five years, they have added 5-6 serviceable players. Volpe in 2023. Gil & Wells in 2024. Schmidt in 2020. Cabrera. And adding Jasson to that in 2025. That’s 6 guys in 5 years.
Sears & Spence are serviceable guys on the A’s that came from NY in last five years. Duran & Smith on Rangers.
King, Judge, Cortes, Severino, Montgomery, Higgy before 2020. Not so bad considering Yankees don’t have high draft picks.
@why
when you consider those they’ve graduated and those they’ve used to use for impact players I would say the Yanks farm has been pretty productive. but I know you were just trolling.
StroME is next for relief pitching…
That Stroman presser where he interrupted to say he’s a starter was awkward. How can he actually think so highly of himself when he’s producing 10+ ERA’s etc.
Also although we did see him doing some training and exercise during the off season, he seemed more focused on promoting some kind of lifestyle brand / his wine label, etc.
Pitch 4+ shut out innings and sub-3 ERA ball for 5+ innings per outing and we can get back to thinking of you as a viable starter.
The interview was odd.
Stroman claims he’s so “detatched” and “grounded” from rumors and then asks for the date and charity donations before passive aggressively mentioning the rumors from people in the room.
I’m a starter. x13
Refers to Aaron Boone as “Booner” and shortly after talks about how much respect he has for him.
Shortly after opening the interview, he goes on a tangent about the LA fires. But a few minutes later, when asked to elaborate by a reporter, he gets defensive and doesn’t want to talk about it.
Seems like Marcus was promoting himself for prospective teams the entire time. Then began simultaneously promoting his younger brother last few minutes of the interview.
Is he always this insufferable?