A JOURNEY OF Faith and Perseverance BRANDON BEACHY
concentrating solely on pitching and where Braves scout Gene Kerns, who happened to be passing through, decided to stop and watch a game. Beachy pitched the 9th inning that night and impressed Kerns with his arm action and effortless delivery. A visit with Beachy after the game found Kerns calling Braves scouting director Roy Clark and asking permission to sign a contract with him immediately. Kerns watched Beachy pitch the next night, and again called Clark. The director relented and the Braves signed Beachy to a minor league contract, which included a $20,000 signing bonus and an extra $30,000 to finish his college education. The Ascent Beachy’s meteoric rise through the Braves minor league system took many by surprise. After signing, he played rookie ball in Danville, Va., Rome, Ga., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., before making the jump to Jackson, Miss., for the Braves DoubleA team. In 2010, he began the year in Jackson, pitching primarily out of the bullpen in relief, until Braves minor league pitching instructor Dave Wallace advised the organization to make Beachy a starting pitcher. The move turned out to be a brilliant one, and Beachy was named the Braves’ Double-A pitcher of that summer, earning a promotion to the Gwinnett Braves Triple-A team, where he made eight more appearances. Once the Gwinnett season concluded, Beachy went home to Indiana, but not for long. The team wanted him to report for fall instructional ball in Orlando, where
he was told to stay ready as he might be summoned to the big leagues because of nagging injuries to starters Jair Jurrjens and Derek Lowe. As predicted, within days, Beachy flew to Philadelphia to meet up with the team. The next afternoon at 3 p.m., venerable manager Bobby Cox, just two weeks from retirement, informed Beachy that he would be the Braves starting pitcher against the first-place Phillies at Citizens Bank Ball Park. A little more than three years had passed since Beachy torched the family farmhouse and only 26 months since he started his pro baseball career, making only 21 minor league starts prior to his first appearance for the Braves. He pitched twice more that season, posting 15 strikeouts in 15 innings and a respectable earned-run-average of 3.00. Against even more remote odds, Beachy won a spot in the starting rotation to begin the 2011 season, an unlikely occurrence considering he beat out 2009 firstround draft pick Mike Minor to become the Braves fifth starter. He rewarded the Braves by establishing a modern-day franchise rookie record with 169 strikeouts in 141 2/3 innings, despite missing several starts during a five-week period due to a strained oblique. But Beachy finished the season with a 7-3 record and a 3.68 ERA in 25 starting assignments. “I came into camp in great shape. When I put my mind to something, I don’t want to leave any room for doubt,” Beachy said of his preparation last season. “I was fortunate to be the guy they wanted to go with [coming out of spring training]. One day I’ll be done, and I don’t want to look
back and be unsatisfied because I didn’t do everything that I could have.” Beachy is approaching his second season the same way. As he prepared for spring training this winter, he was committed to improving his endurance and working on certain aspects of his repertoire. “As an athlete, I love to compete and I compete as hard as I can every time I go on the field. I don’t think I can be any more motivated, and I’d like to think that I am giving it my very best every time,” he said. “I want to win and work hard to do everything I can to succeed on the field.” “I am always talking to myself when I am pitching, but the things I say to myself are out-of-character, cocky things that I would never, ever say in front of other people,” Beachy said. “When I am out there on the mound, I think I’m the best, that’s what I tell myself, and I believe it. I know I am nowhere close to that, but when I am on the mound, you couldn’t convince me otherwise.” A Difference Maker On the field, Beachy is the antithesis of his off-field persona. Josh Worrell, his former roommate at IWU, said Beachy hasn’t changed since his pro career began. “When we hang out, he’s just like any of my other friends,” said Worrell, the third-ever IWU star drafted by a MLB team. “Our relationship is the same as it always was. Today, baseball is just his occupation. Brandon wants to be viewed as a good guy that just happens to play baseball for a living.” Beachy hopes to use his on-field status
ptsnorth.com | March 2012 | Points North
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