Possible good news on Beato

[Frobby]

A young unsophisticated kid from the Dominican comes to the States without the support group of friends, family and culture that he's comfortable with and regresses. It's understandable and probably no coincidence that he regained his form when he returned to the DR.

Relocating your life to an alien culture, and doing it alone, can be difficult. If that's his problem, he can overcome it. Let's watch him with optimism.

I believe Beato had been in the U.S. for a number of years when we signed him. I heard him interviewed on TV shortly after he was signed and he spoke excellent, virtually unaccented English.

[BowieMike]

I believe Beato had been in the U.S. for a number of years when we signed him. I heard him interviewed on TV shortly after he was signed and he spoke excellent, virtually unaccented English.

Indeed. Here's a snippet from an article that appeared in the Frederick News-Post a few months back. Some of you may remember it:

Beato came to the New York from the Dominican Republic with his sister and mother on Sept. 29, 1999. His father was already living here. Beato was 12-years-old, soon to be 13.

He went to public and private schools in New York, became a top pitching prospects and was the Orioles second selection (sandwich pick) in the 2006 draft.

Citizen Beato

[zff4]

I believe Beato had been in the U.S. for a number of years when we signed him. I heard him interviewed on TV shortly after he was signed and he spoke excellent, virtually unaccented English.

Ah well, looking for excuses to be charitable with our pitchers' performance is often misplaced with this team isn't it or in my case just wrong. I did the same thing for 5 years with Danny Cabrera and look what it got me.

[MCO'sFan]

It could also say that they figured it out and told Beato, who ignored them. It's a common problem with baseball pitchers who were high school superstars and then start to get eaten up in the pros. Some have to be smacked around like a pinata before they change their ways.

He's a 20, 21 year old guy with past success being told by someone old enough to be his father that he has to change before he can hang with the big guys. That's not always a smooth scenario.

I'm not saying that's what happened, but I wouldn't jump to the other conclusion either.

This is quite true. I coach JuCo baseball and some kids are very unwilling to make adjustments. Especially those who have their "own" pitching coach and/or father who is in their ear all the time. It is also possible that the development folks didn't want to make drastic mechanic changes during the season. They can lead to injury. We sure have had our share of those.

[MCO'sFan]

Some knocks on our player development in another thread, but this thread sure has a LOT of pitchers moving through our system with good success.

It sure is nice to ponder that Beato might regain some prospect status - so nice I had to post it again.

I think this is quite true. Our development folks have been doing a better job. However, the sheer depth of pitching in the organization is outstanding! As much attention that we do get from the national media regarding our depth oue system is still under rated. We have at least 12 - 15 legitimate ML starting pitcher prospects. Now if we can just get the position player side up. And, NO MORE SLAP TEARS!!!!

[DennisTheOsFan]

What is Beato's projectional ceiling?

[rhall]

What is Beato's projectional ceiling?

When he was drafted, he was viewed as having frontline potential. Here's Tony's scouting report on him from 2006.

Projected Role: Top of rotation starter

Notes - Showed off a live arm and some good secondary pitches as he got his feet wet in pro ball. Ray Miller would be elated to see this kid pitch because he works fast, throws strikes, and changes speeds. And he does it with a fastball that sits in the 94-95 MPH range with good life. Good enough to get guys out just with the fastball, but mixes in a plus breaking ball and has the good makings of a plus change. Lots of things to like, but still a work in progress (as is just about any other 19-year old pitcher) on things like keeping his emotions under control on the mound and slimming down the amount of different pitches thrown.

Tony's scouting report on Beato after the 2007 season wasn't really any worse. He hinted at a little disparity between stuff and results, but still a very promising prospect.

Projected Role: #2 or #3 Starter

The 2006 sandwich pick has a litany of pitches he can throw, and this year he was asked to refine a couple of them. The Orioles love his cut fastball, but wanted him to abandon it this year so that he could work more on his curveball, which is a plus pitch when he throws it for strikes. At 6-6 he can get his fastball into the mid 90’s and seemed to show an ability to get his changeup over for strikes. The Orioles were pleased with his secondary pitches down the stretch, and think he’ll have three pitches he consistently throws for strikes when he makes the big leagues. And it’s expected that he’ll improve when he’s allowed to throw the cutter more again next year in Frederick . He too could be higher on this list next year if he puts up the kind of numbers that were expected out of him in Delmarva. He threw enough strikes for the Shorebirds, but also gave up too many hits. Overall his numbers were more pedestrian than the dominance expected, which is why he checks in at #9. But some in the organization rank him equal to and even above some of the players who will be ahead of him on this year’s list.

It's pretty obvious that something went wrong last year. It's nice to hear that some of it may be correctable though. Only time will tell if that's true and hopefully his play will actually improve.

[jcumansky28]

Erbe had a horrible first year at Frederick as well, then turned it around. No reason to expect any less from Beato--if he's healthy.

[stnwall00]

I need to come to Pedro's defense a bit for last year. He is a real good kid with a positive attitude, and super easy to talk too. When he started having issues, everyone was looking for reasons. Pedro tried everything, and even requested old video tapes of himself from Aberdeen and prior to try to find a reason for the struggles. From what I understand, it was something small in his mechanics, and it took some time away from competing in season, in a low stress enviroment to figure things out. Trying to change things in season is always difficult because you put so much pressure on yourself to perform right away. But Pedro is a class act, and a hard worker (unlike some other 2006 first round picks I know)...I was only concerned that it was an injury that would linger, but he always said he felt fine, and had no doubt he would figure it out and is still a legit prospect.

[DennisTheOsFan]

So what we are hearing now is that his FB is back to where it was, now that he's healthy and worked out the kinks? If he's back on track, is he a guy who could move quickly through the system?

[clapdiddy]

So what we are hearing now is that his FB is back to where it was, now that he's healthy and worked out the kinks? If he's back on track, is he a guy who could move quickly through the system?

I would say "yes" to this question. I remember a lot of excitement when he was drafted...and it was thought that he was pretty "polished" for his age.

If he's healthy and has his mechanics straight, I'd bet he could move pretty quickly.

[DennisTheOsFan]

I would say "yes" to this question. I remember a lot of excitement when he was drafted...and it was thought that he was pretty "polished" for his age.

If he's healthy and has his mechanics straight, I'd bet he could move pretty quickly.

Good. Another middle of the rotation guy we can lump together and hope will pan out. The more we have, the better our chances of one (or more) sticking.

Patton and Spoone are questionable, and who knows if Bergesen, Erbe, Hernandez, Britton and the rest (projected mid rotation arms) will pan out. By putting more names into this group, I feel good that at least one will pan out.