After frustrating season, Tyler Beede tells why he's ‘real confident' for 2018

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A large group of the best prospects in baseball who are on the verge of making the major leagues, spent the weekend learning how to enjoy successful careers with more than their athletic abilities at the annual Rookie Career Development Program at the Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, VA. Among those invited was Tyler Beede, the Giants' top pitching prospect.

"It's great just to be a sponge, to learn things and implement them into my career on and off the field," Beede told MLB Pipeline. "It's been awesome and I've learned so much since I've been here." 

Staying in the moment is never easy for a prospect, especially those so close to earning a call-up. Beede acknowledged he dealt with that mentally during an up-and-down year with the Giants' Triple-A affiliate Sacramento River Cats in 2017. 

"I think the whole year I was sort of just anticipating the phone call," Beede said. "If I had a good start sittin' there by the phone, waitin' for a phone call and that sort of got in my head.

"I think I needed to have a new perspective of why I was playing, my routine, my mindset, and I think that injury kind of put me in a new state of mind where don't take for granted where you're at. You're a phone call away and it's frustrating you got hurt on the verge of being called up, but it's an opportunity to get better, to take each start as it is."

Warming up for his start in July, Beede suffered a groin strain and never returned to the mound for Sacramento. At the time of the injury, he was coming off one of his best starts of the year, going seven strong with no earned runs, five strikeouts and only one walk. He ended his season with River Cats posting a 6-7 record with a career-high 4.79 ERA over 19 starts. 

Beede was back on the hill for the Arizona Fall League and proved why he's the Giants' highest regarded arm in the minors when healthy. After only 109 innings pitched in his injury-shortened regular season, Beeded added 16 more in the AFL. He shook off the rust after a shaky first start and then flashed his future potential. 

In Beede's final three starts, he compiled a 1.93 ERA over 14 innings to go along with 10 strikeouts to one walk. 

"Being able to pitch in the Fall League after coming off the injury, getting healthy and sort of building my confidence back, tweaking some things mechanically and in my routine allowed me to feel more confident," Beede said. "Going into 2018, I feel really good, real confident with what I'm doing."

With the Giants' trade of Matt Moore, Beede, 24, is expected to compete with several others in spring training for the Giants' fifth spot in the starting rotation. 

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