The Marlins are betting that Jace Beck can step into Braxton Garrett’s spot, and the appeal starts with a right arm that has already forced people to look twice.
Miami acquired the 26-year-old along with first baseman Jonathon Long in the deal that sent Garrett away, and Beck brings a profile the organization clearly believes can play up. He’s a towering 6-foot-9 pitcher with a fastball that has shown real life, and his recent work suggests the club sees more than just bullpen power in him.
That’s a notable turn for a pitcher whose path has been anything but straight. Beck was drafted by the Mets in the 22nd round of the 2019 MLB draft out of high school, where he worked mostly as a starter.
After the 2020 minor league season was canceled, he came back throwing harder and was shifted to the bullpen to take advantage of the velocity. For most of his time in the Mets system, that’s where he stayed, with only seven professional starts before landing with the Cubs.
Once in Chicago’s system, the idea was to build him up carefully. The Cubs initially wanted to use Beck for two or three innings at a time, then gradually extend him while checking whether his stuff would hold. That experiment started to look worthwhile when he began keeping his velocity deeper into outings.
“Finally, I get [a start] and held the velo the entire time,” Beck told MiLB.com. “Once I get to 80 pitches and the velocity starts staying the same it’s pretty good, just for my mindset as well.”
He backed that up in a July 28 start for Triple-A Iowa, where he tossed five scoreless innings, gave up four hits and no walks, and was still hitting 96.9 mph with his four-seam fastball in the fourth inning. For a pitcher trying to prove he can survive as a starter instead of just detonating out of the bullpen, that matters.
June was the strongest stretch of his season and probably the clearest sign that the move could work. Beck went 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA over five appearances, three of them starts, while striking out 36 in 19 innings and holding hitters to a .138 average. That run earned him a promotion to Triple-A Iowa and, eventually, a place in Miami’s return for Garrett.
The raw numbers remain loud. Across Double-A and Triple-A this season, Beck has gone 6-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 25 appearances, including nine starts. He’s struck out 116 batters in 74 2/3 innings, a rate of 13.98 strikeouts per nine.
But Triple-A also showed why this is still a work in progress. After putting up a 2.87 ERA with 102 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings at Double-A Knoxville, Beck was hit harder in Iowa, where he allowed 11 earned runs in 15 innings. Walks were not the issue - he issued only five - but he gave up 22 hits and four home runs while striking out 14.
His last start there was roughest of all. Beck was tagged for the first five runs in a 13-3 loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and both J.C.
Escarra and Marco Luciano left the yard against him. That’s the caution flag Miami has to keep in view: the stuff can hold, but advanced hitters have shown they can make him pay when he isn’t missing bats.
So the arm is intriguing, the frame is imposing, and the strikeout totals jump off the page. Still, Beck has more proving to do before the Marlins can really trust him as Garrett’s replacement.
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