Red Sox Prospect Jalen Beeks Is Breeding Contempt in the Eastern League

Jalen Beeks is quietly emerging as one of the top pitching prospects in the Red Sox organization. The 23-year-old lefty has made seven starts for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs, and he’s kept the opposition off the scoreboard in five of them. His ERA is a frugal 1.60, and he’s fanned 48 batters over 39.1 frames.

On the surface, Beeks is more about craftiness than power. The University of Arkansas product stands an unimposing 5-foot-11, and his repertoire doesn’t include a plus-plus offering. His biggest asset has been an ability to mix and match, and keep hitters off balance.

Which isn’t to say he’s all about finesse. A scout to whom I spoke during his most recent outing opined that Beeks has good stuff, and that consistency and command are the keys to his future success. Having options should help. The former Razorback had a crisp curveball on the day I saw him, which helped make up for a cutter that wasn’t sharp. Beeks had pointed to the latter when I asked about his breakout.

“It’s been a mixture of things,” Beeks told me the night before the game. “My mechanics have gotten better. I’ve been around good pitching coaches for longer. I’ve also added a cutter — I’ve changed from a slider to a cutter — and it’s been a better pitch for me. I used my slider a lot last year, but it just never felt natural, so I tried something new.”

The tweak was needed. His 2016 season was solid, but it was also uninspiring. Boston’s 12th-round pick in the 2014 draft put up a 3.87 ERA and allowed more than a hit per inning. On the periphery of prospect rankings, Beeks was going to have to adapt and evolve if he hoped to reach the next level.

A cutter was a move in that direction. How to best utilize it is the next step, and analytics and pitch data are playing a role.

“The organization has guys working on that aspect of the game,” explained Beeks, who also throws a four-seamer, a curveball, and a changeup. “It shows you what your pitches do — things you can’t see — and how hitters see them. For instance, they tracked where my release point is with my cutter. Just today, I learned that when my cutter is going down at the ankles of righties, it’s actually not as good as when I keep it up around chest level. The spin is better — it’s closer to the spin on my four-seam — so it’s harder for the hitter to recognize.”

The hitters he’s been facing have had ample opportunities to discern his offerings. Eastern League scheduling quirks have injected a heavy dose of same-old to the southpaw’s starts. Prior to facing Hartford last week, he’d taken the mound against Trenton twice and against Reading four times. Any contempt bred from that familiarity sits solely with his rivals. Beeks has thrown 22 scoreless innings against the Fightin’ Phils, and one week after the Thunder banged him around for five runs — his lone bad outing on the season — Beeks bounced back to blank the Yankees affiliate for seven innings.

“I have been facing the same teams a lot,” acknowledged Beeks. “It’s kind of crazy, but in the end, it’s still about trying keep your mechanics consistent and hitting spots. They know what I’m bringing to the table, and I know what they’re bringing to the table. Because of that, it mostly comes down to making my pitches.”

Beeks makes his eighth start of this season today against a team he’s yet to see, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.