Former SF Giants top pitching prospect and 2014 1st-round pick joins Guardians on minors pact

Former SF Giants top pitching prospect Tyler Beede has signed with the Cleveland Guardians on a minor league deal, per the team's transaction log. This comes after he spent last season as a member of the Yomiuri Giants, a Japanese baseball team in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Beede will receive a camp invite.

Former SF Giants top pitching prospect and 2014 1st-round pick joins Guardians on minors pact

Beede last pitched in the big leagues in 2022 as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. This came after he was designated for assignment by the Giants earlier in that season.

Things unfortunately never worked out with the Giants for Beede after he was selected with their first-round pick in the 2014 MLB Draft. The hope was that he would develop into a reliable rotation piece but that never happened.

He made his debut with the Giants in 2018 and was never really able to find his footing. The best chance that he had to prove himself came in 2019 when he started 22 games for the Giants. In that season, he recorded an ERA of 5.08 with a WHIP of 1.479 which earned him a record of 5-10 on the season. He also gave up 22 home runs in 117 innings pitched.

His shining moment as a Giant came in a July game in 2019 against the New York Mets where he pitched 8 shutout innings against a lineup that included Pete Alonso, Robinson Cano, and current Giant Michael Conforto. Jacob DeGrom was the starting pitcher for the Mets that day and Beede hung with him as neither allowed a run.

And guess who Beede's catcher was in that game: current Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt.

Beede had a chance to stake a claim for a rotation spot in 2020 but underwent Tommy John surgery in spring training that year. Unfortunately, he never regained his footing with the major league club.

He was claimed by the Pirates in 2022 and was given an opportunity to pitch more but again struggled to the tune of a 5.23 ERA in 21 and 2/3 innings pitched. He did better in the NPB last season, posting a 3.99 ERA in 49.2 innings pitched.

Perhaps the Vogt connection is why the Guardians decided to take a chance on him. Beede is still only 30 years old, so he has plenty of time to get his career back on track. One need only look at the winding career of Ryan Vogelsong, who also went from the Giants to the Pirates, then overseas before returning to the MLB, to know that it doesn't matter how you get there as long as you make it.

Perhaps Beede can have a similar career trajectory and turn himself into a solid big league pitcher with the Guardians.