Jace Beck Wins Pitcher of the Month - Dominating in a New Role

Philip Stalzer

KNOXVILLE, TN - Jace Beck was honored with the Southern League Pitcher of the Month award for the month of June earlier this week. Over five appearances (three starts) Beck was 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA. Beck’s performance was certainly impressive during the month of June, but what may be more impressive was how effortlessly he has seemed to transition from reliever to full-time starter.

In high school, Beck was primarily a starting pitcher and was extremely effective. In over 70 innings pitched his senior year alone, Beck had an ERA below 1.00 and over 130 strikeouts.

That dominance led to Beck being drafted in the 22nd round of the 2019 MLB Draft by the New York Mets out of high school. While Beck made a handful of starts in the Mets’ system early in his career, he was rather quickly transitioned to the bullpen.

“Went back home for COVID, got stronger, and then I came back throwing a lot harder, and then they just kind of said, ‘[The Mets are] going to move you to the bullpen,’” Beck said.

Beck has remained in the reliever role for most of his career, making just seven starts in his professional career before this season with the Smokies. From day one in the Cubs’ organization, however, both Beck and his coaches knew he was capable of more.

“I’ve been giving George [Thanopoulus], the pitching coach, a hard time about letting me start,” Beck said. “‘Just let me get one, let me get one, let’s see what happens.”

Pitching coach George Thanopoulus voiced a similar rhetoric coming into the season.

“Kind of started in Spring Training, we already knew that we wanted him to be a guy that could give us multiple innings a couple times a week,” Thanopoulus said.

With the precedent set for Beck by his coaches and himself, it was time to make the move.

Beck had been a single-inning reliever almost exclusively in his time in the Mets organization outside of his seven starts over five seasons in the organization. Step one for Beck was to prepare his body for the increased workload.

“It’s been different, but so far it’s been good in the training room…” Beck said. “I’m just kind of taking care of business.”

Pitching coach Jose Zapata praised Beck for his commitment to the transition as well.

“I think his work habits have been much better. He’s staying on top of the little things, especially how to take care of his body, specifically when he is on the field,” Zapata said.

It wasn’t just working out that Beck needed to do to make the switch, though. He also needed to pitch.

Coming into the season, Beck and his coaches were on the same page: Beck would be asked to throw two to three innings in his appearances, increasing his pitch count slowly.

As Beck grew more comfortable with the idea of pitching deeper into games, he and the coaches had some conversations and decided to keep progressing towards becoming a starter.

“Basically just slowly starting to expose him to starting games,” Thanopoulus said. “We had him open a couple times just to kind of see what his routine was like, see if he could handle it.”

Beck continued to have success in this transitioning phase, not just in his pitching stats, but in his ability to remain effective with multiple pitches, showing fewer and fewer signs of fatigue as he got deeper and deeper into appearances.

“Finally, I get [a start] and held the velo the entire time, very good outing, so it’s kind of easy for him to talk to the front office guys and say ‘hey let’s try to get him into some games,’” Beck said. “Once I get to 80 pitches and the velocity starts staying the same it’s pretty good, just for my mindset as well.”

In June, Beck forced himself into the starting rotation with the progress he was making while maintaining his strength and success.

After two relief outings of two and three innings respectively, manager Lance Rymel gave Beck his first start of the month. Beck did not disappoint, tossing four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts on 73 pitches.

Beck only continued to get better in his next two starts. In his second start, Beck went five scoreless while striking out 10 on 74 pitches, and in his third start, allowed just one run on five hits while striking out 11 over five innings.

Beck’s stats have continued to get better all season thanks to more innings as well. In April, Beck was 2-0 with a 5.54 ERA in 13 innings pitched. In May, Beck was 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA over 18.2 innings pitched, including notching his first start of the season. June was, of course, the magical month for Beck, who placed himself firmly in the starting rotation. In July, Beck has made just one start so far, but threw another four innings, allowing just one run while striking out eight, continuing his positive trend.

His coaches have praised his maturity and his work ethic throughout the season, and Beck is more excited than ever to be pitching once a week.

“It makes me happy to be able to go out there for five innings and 80 pitches and then come back in the next day and be like, ‘Wow, I don’t feel too bad,’ Beck said. “I’m happy with myself for that.”

The 26-year-old will look to continue his progress and maintain his success as a starter, as the Smokies continue to play complete baseball and look forward to a playoff series here in Knoxville in September.