Unheralded Yankees Prospect Rising

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman completed eight trades in the hours leading up to the July 31 MLB trade deadline. None of those deals included the club's top prospects, most notably middle infielder George Lombard Jr. and red-hot slugger Spencer Jones.

However Cashman also held on to an under-the-radar prospect whose stock is soaring, according to MLB.com's Sam Dykstra, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo: Brendan Beck.

"A 2021 second-round pick from Stanford, Beck missed all of 2022 following Tommy John surgery and all of '24 after a subsequent elbow operation," the trio wrote last week. "He's back to throwing four pitches for strikes, the best of which is a low-80s slider, and has logged a 2.88 ERA, .205 average-against and 86/22 K/BB ratio in 93 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. He's the younger brother of Giants right-hander Tristan Beck."

MLB Pipeline ranks Beck as the Yankees' No. 12 prospect based on the following scouting report:

"Beck's control and command stand out more than any of his four offerings, the best of which is a solid low-80s slider with impressive depth. His low-90s fastball tops out at 94 mph and doesn't feature much life, meaning it grades as a fringy offering, as does his upper-70s downer curveball. His low-80s changeup has some sink but isn't very effective.

"Beck is a good athlete who repeats his delivery while working quickly and moving his pitches around the strike zone. He might be the best strike-thrower in the system, which helps him compensate for his so-so stuff. As an amateur, he reminded some area scouts of Shane Bieber at the same stage of their careers, though his ceiling now is more of a back-of-the-rotation starter or middle reliever."

The right-hander took the mound Sunday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and gutted out five innings, giving up four earned runs on six hits and two walks. Beck also struck out a pair of batters in the RailRiders' 9-7 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Beck threw 85 pitches, 53 for strikes, as he improved to 5-1 with a 4.67 ERA in Triple-A.

And not for nothing, Jones hit his 14th home run of the season in Sunday's win. Combined with the 16 home runs he hit at Double-A Somerset, Jones has 30 home runs this year.

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