T.J. BEAM

8/28/80; '03 10th (NYY); University of Mississippi
R/R; 6-7, 215

Level
W-L-Sv
G
GS
IP
H
 HR
BB
K
 BB/9 K/9 WHIP OAVG
ERA
2003 A (NYY)
2-1-0
5
5
21.2
27
 3
8
19
 3.32 7.89 1.62 .300
5.82
2003 A- (NYY)
2-1-1
9
5
33.1
25
 4
9
31
 2.43 8.37 1.02 .200
2.70
2004 A (NYY)
2-5-0
11
7
41.1
34
 8
17
54
 3.70 11.76 1.23 .227
4.35
2004 A- (NYY)
2-4-0
12
12
66.2
61
 4
14
69
 1.89 9.32 1.13 .251
2.56
2005 A+ (NYY)
1-1-1
12
0
17.1
14
 2
7
27
 3.64
14.02
1.21
.215
3.12
2005 A (NYY)
3-3-2
35
2
59.2
45
 2
18
78
 2.72
11.77
1.06
.206
1.66
2006 AL (NYY)
2-0-0
20
0
18.0
26
 5
6
12
 3.00
6.00
1.78
.338
8.50
2006 AAA (NYY)
2-0-1
19
0
31.2
16
 1
13
37
 3.70
10.52
0.92
.151
1.71
2006 AA (NYY)
4-0-3
18
0
42.0
26
 1
12
34
 2.57
7.29
0.90
.182
0.86
2007 AAA (NYY)
4-3-3
29
0
47.2
51
 6
10
45
 1.89
8.50
1.28
.274
3.59
2007 R (NYY)
0-0-0
4
3
7.0
6
 0
1
7
 1.29
9.00
1.00
.214
2.57
2008 NL
2-2-1
32
0
45.2
43
6
20
24
3.94
4.73
1.38
.251
4.14
2008 AAA
2-1-5
30
0
43.2
36
2
14
41
2.89
8.45
1.15
.222
3.09

Beam has put up impressive numbers in the minors, including very good K rates. He's been much better since he moved to the bullpen. According to Baseball America, his fastball reaches the mid-90s and he throws an average slider. I'm not exactly sure what produced all those strikeouts, as his fastball was generally around the upper 80s as a Pirate. Beam missed part of 2007 with a muscle strain. The fact that he didn't manage to stick with the Yankees doesn't mean a lot. The Yankees under Joe Torre seldom gave rookie relievers a real opportunity. The Pirates signed him and invited him to spring training.

Beam pitched well, as he always has, in AAA. The Pirates called him up in late June to help their failing bullpen and, aside from Matt Capps, he was their most effective-or more accurately, least ineffective-RH reliever the rest of the way. He was one of their few relievers who didn't allow frightening numbers of baserunners. His control was shaky and he didn't fan hitters at anywhere near his minor league rate, but he generally didn't get hit hard. He had a reverse platoon split in AAA, but not in the majors, as he had a WHIP of 1.88 against LH batters and 1.04 against RH batters. He's a flyball pitcher, so gopher balls may remain a problem. He should be back in 2009, as he looks like he could be a useful middle reliever, but probably not a setup guy.

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