Brendan Beck tossed five scoreless innings and struck out nine for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday.
Beck’s 89-93 mph fastball keeps him from showing up high on prospects lists, but it didn’t stop him from generating 18 whiffs last night, including nine on the 22 sliders he threw. Beck had a 3.36 ERA and a 123/36 K/BB in 131 1/3 innings between Double- and Triple-A last season. It doesn’t seem likely that the Yankees will need him as a starter this year, but with his command, he’d probably hold his own if given the chance.