The cowbells rang loud from the several dozens of Rays fans that made the trip up to New York for the 2008 MLB Draft. Never had the buzz around the team been so exciting, as the Rays were in the midst of a playoff run that eventually led to a pennant.
Meanwhile, the Rays had the first overall pick in the 2008 draft, and many were wondering which way the Rays would go. They ended up taking Tim Beckham, an 18-year old from Griffin High School in Georgia.
He was supposed to be a five-tool player, one that would need a couple seasons of seasoning before breaking into ‘The Bigs’, but was deemed to have potential higher than the clouds. The Rays surely believed he did, not only making him the first overall choice, but giving him a then-record $6.15 million signing bonus.
As most know, things haven’t panned-out exactly how Tampa Bay expected it would. Not even close, for that matter. The now 21-year old Beckham enters into this spring having hit a less-than-impressive .263 during his two and a half years in the minors. Once thought to be a long-ball threat at shortstop, Beckham has only managed to launch 12 home runs.
The image of watching Buster Posey tear apart opposing pitching in his rookie season, on his way to helping San Francisco to a World Series title, is a very hard one to stomach for many Rays fans. That the Rays could have picked him over Beckham after he was a stud at Florida State is a tough reality to swallow.
Beckham, meanwhile, has lost his tag as a big-time prospect, only ranked 19th among Rays prospects this year by Baseball America. By getting Hak-Ju Lee via the trade that sent Matt Garza to Chicago, the Rays now have another shortstop in front of Beckham.
Reid Brignac will start at short this season for the Rays, and may be the long-term starter at the position, not that it really matters concerning Beckham, seeing as he hasn’t even made it to Double-A yet. Beckham hit below .260 last season, while striking out 119 times in just over 120 games for high Single-A Charlotte.
Baseball America’s Jim Callis says Beckham’s lack of progression is “puzzling”, and doubts he will remain much longer at shortstop. The 6’1″, 190-pound former phenom with a 6.35-60 yard dash is now considered too slow to play at short.
Once thought of as a slow development, if Beckham does not have a breakthrough this season, he will be an afterthought, if he isn’t already. Even if he does manage to someday make it to the majors, he may not be able to play shortstop, and obviously would not be able to move over to third base.
Of course that type of thinking is getting way too far ahead of the current matter, seeing as Beckham has been stuck in the low levels his whole time in the Rays’ organization. So the question is, have the Rays lost all hope in Beckham?
He wouldn’t be the first major bust straight out of high school, but the fact that the Rays could’ve selected Posey or Gordon Beckham, two proven college players, makes people realize how naive they were when thinking Tim Beckham was the smart choice.
He may have had the best upside, but Posey was coming off a monster career at FSU, and would have been a safe, yet potentially great pick, which he was. The only problem? It was for another team.
With all the “what-ifs” aside, Beckham enters spring training with less publicity and media coverage than in the two years previous, becoming just another face in the crowd.
So while much has changed in the past two and a half years since the day he was chosen by the Rays, his game has yet to improve much at all.
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