On July 26th, Mike DeBartolo made his first trade as the Nationals interim GM. He sent Amed Rosario to the Yankees for Clayton Beeter and Dominican youngster Browm Martinez. So far, this is looking like a strong deal. The reason for this is Clayton Beeter, who is turning himself into a quality reliever.
Since coming over from the Yankees, Beeter has already made 14 appearances for the Nats. In those outings, he has a 2.84 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 12.2 innings. He has also only allowed three hits
in that time. Each time out, Beeter is looking more and more comfortable.
The stuff has never been in question for Beeter. He has always had a mid to upper 90’s fastball with good riding life and an absolutely filthy slider to go with it. They are both very good pitches that play well together. Beeter creates a good tunnel which makes the slider look like a fastball for hitters until it is too late.
However, Beeter has always had one big problem and that is throwing strikes. The lack of strikes was why Beeter became a reliever in the first place. Beeter had some success as a starter in both the Dodgers and Yankees organizations, but just never threw enough strikes for it to last long term. He walked over five batters per nine innings in his minor league career.
You cannot be a starter with those kinds of walk numbers. However, if the stuff is good enough, that is workable out of the bullpen. Since joining the Nats bullpen, he has walked just under five batters per nine innings and has made it work.
So how has Beeter made it work? Well, by being totally filthy. As a National, opponents are hitting just .077 against him. That is obviously not going to last, but there is reason to believe Beeter will remain mostly un-hittable. His expected batting average against is just .177 and that includes his 2 awful outings with the Yankees.
The reason it is so low is because he avoids hard contact. Beeter’s hard hit rate is just 28.2%, which is an elite number. For reference, the average hard hit rate is 36.9%. In the minors it was also very good, as he held opponents to a 30.6% hard hit rate.
A lot of this is due to his unhittable slider. It is a pitch stuff models absolutely love. In August, he threw it 43.1% of the time and it generated whiffs 48.8% of the time. That is a plus-plus pitch. It is his money maker and he does a good job setting it up with his firm heater.
While the walks will always be a part of his game, he has been in the zone much more lately. He has not walked anyone in 7 of his last 8 appearances. Beeter did walk three guys in that other outing, but he found a way out of that inning. He has not allowed a run in those last 8 games.
As long as Beeter is not walking the world, he will have a place in this Nats bullpen for a long time. His arm is so lively and that two pitch mix can be so dominant. The lack of strike throwing will probably hold him back from being an elite high leverage guy. However, he has good enough stuff to be a good middle reliever even with shaky control.
This has been a good pickup for Mike DeBartolo. Sometimes, betting on guys with big time stuff can pay off. They have a bigger margin for error because of that stuff. Clayton Beeter can get in a jam and just work his way out of it with strikeouts. That is a very valuable thing to have.
To get a guy who could be a part of the bullpen for the next half decade in exchange for Amed Rosario is a good piece of business. While Beeter may be volatile and frustrating, his stuff is dominant. You need guys like that in a bullpen and the Washington Nationals have found one of those guys.
