The Yankees had high hopes when they drafted Brendan Beck out of Stanford in the second round in 2021.
But shortly after he was selected and began throwing with the organization, he tore his UCL and needed Tommy John surgery.
That began a sometimes tortuous road for the right-hander, now 27, who has had multiple procedures on the elbow — including one that cost him all of 2024 — but finally had a full season of health in 2025.
He threw 131 ⅓ innings split between Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Double-A Somerset a year ago and had no issues.
It was that development that gave Beck confidence this spring that he might finally break through into the majors this season.
“Last year, my goal was just to pitch through the whole season,’’ Beck said this spring in Tampa. “You’ve got to be able to play. You can’t impact any team if you’re not available. I was able to be there from start to finish and handle the workload again. I made every start in college and that was definitely the type of pitcher I was before I hurt the elbow.”
And on Thursday, he was rewarded with his first callup to the majors, as the Yankees needed a fresh arm after Yerry De los Santos was needed for 3 ⅓ innings on Wednesday in relief of Will Warren.
“I want to go forward without that injury label and be looked at as another guy they can call up when they need someone as a legitimate option,’’ Beck said. “I don’t want to be an unknown to them.”
Beck hasn’t been his sharpest so far this season, but he pitched well in two of his last three starts with SWB and was rested enough to be able to pitch multiple innings for the Yankees on Thursday in The Bronx if called upon.
His aim isn’t to simply be an occasional extra arm in the majors and Beck doesn’t have the nasty repertoire that some of his current — and former — SWB teammates do, like Elmer Rodríguez and Carlos Lagrange.
“Those guys are a lot younger,’’ Beck said in March, before Rodríguez made his MLB debut, with Lagrange expected to potentially be a bullpen option for the Yankees at some point this season.
“I’m not a young buck like them,’’ Beck said. “They deserve to be the top guys [in the system]. I don’t have the pure stuff like them, but I know how to pitch.”
It’s something VP of domestic amateur scouting, Damon Oppenheimer, said when they drafted Beck, before the elbow injuries popped up.
“We think he could be really close,” Oppenheimer said at the time. “There’s not a lot of development that has to go in. He just probably needs to build up innings. … We think we’re getting a high-end starter.”
That remains to be seen, but he was pleased to be on “the cusp” of getting to the majors this spring.
“When I got drafted, I expected to be in the big leagues,’’ Beck said. “It’s taken a lot of hard work and it’s not something I didn’t earn. I think of myself as a big-league pitcher. I always have.”
Now, he can say he is.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
