My thoughts on Tim Beckham

jbone17 said:

I saw Tim Beckham play against Lakewood last night here in NJ. On the defensive side he made 2 errors in the field. One was a questionable error and one was a bad throw. That compensated for it because he made some very athletic plays while turning double plays. He has a lot of range and speed. On the offensive side he went 1-5 with an rbi single. He looked very decent at the plate and he made solid contact. Tim will be a very exceptional player one day and at 19 he is holding his own in the SAL.

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thefasterblade said:

If he doesn't stick at SS, I think it was a pretty bad pick by the Rays. They could have had Posey in or on the brink of being in their lineup right now. They desperately need a C and it was the perfect fit. Bartlett has played great, but first BJ and now Tim with tons of errors at SS. If he ends up in the OF, I think it was a mistake. They already have Jennings on the way. Maybe this means they won't be re-upping Upton's contract when its done. Who knows. They offered pretty much everyone an extension, but Bossman.

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jbone17 said:

I don't see why Tim would move out of SS. He looks very athletic and he is perfect for that position. Lakewood gave him an error where he started at normal playing depth and a ball was hit up the middle. Beckham ran from where he was playing and bobbled it on a back hand. He should have never been slapped with the error. The crowd was very impressed with him. He is a very good ball player.

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thefasterblade said:

jbone17 said:

I don't see why Tim would move out of SS. He looks very athletic and he is perfect for that position. Lakewood gave him an error where he started at normal playing depth and a ball was hit up the middle. Beckham ran from where he was playing and bobbled it on a back hand. He should have never been slapped with the error. The crowd was very impressed with him. He is a very good ball player.

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He had 27 errors through 60 games, not even sure how many he might have now. Sometimes these ubber atheletic SS prospects such as BJ and Justin Upton find themselves playing in the OF even though they were drafted out of HS as a SS. Its not a knock against him. BJ Upton had made amazing plays at SS in the minors for the Rays organization, but his skill set allowed him to evolve into a Gold Glove type CF...it wouldn't shock me at all to see him switch to the OF or 2B, just like Upton.

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cowboysrule48 said:

Beckham is still very young. The Rays would not have drafted him if they thought he couldn't stay at SS.

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NECpilgrims8 said:

cowboysrule48 said:

Beckham is still very young. The Rays would not have drafted him if they thought he couldn't stay at SS.

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False. They drafted the best player available, not based on what they think he we stick at down the road.

You don't draft on need in the first round. You draft on best available and later on you worry about how to get him into the big league lineup.

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darocker80 said:

Possible Trade bait?

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jbone17 said:

I don't see why Tim would move out of SS. He looks very athletic and he is perfect for that position. Lakewood gave him an error where he started at normal playing depth and a ball was hit up the middle. Beckham ran from where he was playing and bobbled it on a back hand. He should have never been slapped with the error. The crowd was very impressed with him. He is a very good ball player.

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