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Performance:
He was a Freshman All- American while playing in all 70 games at SS - hit .280 with 12 HR
As a Sophomore, he hit 13 HR overall, while hitting .322 in SEC play
He followed that up with a league leading 9 HR in the Cape Cod League
Now, here we are in April with him being near the top of the Golden Spikes list as he has hit a silly .454 (that is BA, not slugging %) and 15 HR.
Size/appearance:
Beckham is not the biggest of players, UGA has him listed at 6'0, 180. However, he is muscular and ripped. Wiry strong I would say. He could play at 6'0, 200 pounds without losing speed and mobility.
Tools:
Despite the outstanding numbers and career, Beckham is not without flaws. Hitting, his swing is not picture peferct by any means. His bat is perpendicular with the ground (which makes his swing long, but gives him more bat speed). His high leg kick also gives him more power but leaves him a little off balance and he has a "funky" beginning to his swing.
Defensively, the word is he can stay at SS. He wouldn't be much better than average however. He moves laterally pretty well and has a good arm, but he dosent jump out at you.
He is a solid all around athlete who can run, but wont steal a ton of bases in he majors
Beckham has only walked 12 times in 100 Abs this year. He isnt a hacker but he goes up there swinging. For example: against Miss State. He swings at the first pitch and fouls it off, then lays off two good pitches to work the count 2-1. Then swings at a good slider away that he cant do much with (fouls it off). So, instead of being 3-1 and knowing he is gonna get a FB, he is now 2-2.
Projection:
Beckham is just an all around solid prospects - nothing is great, but nothing is below average either.
Beckam is going to have to realize he is not a power hitter and change his approach and add some conact ability to his game. As mentioned earlier, he is a bit of a free swinger. To his defense, he IS that UGA lineup. He is hitting third and his team is depending on him to be their main power source.
With that said, he can hit for power (20 - 25 HR). However, at what cost? Is he going to hit .250 while doing it?
While he is a free swinger, he has also only struck out 9 times this year. So, as he improves his appraoch, and shows a willingness to use all fields, he could hit .290 and drive in 20-25 HRs.
He is a little pull happy right now, he is going to have to accept some singles the other way.
Either way, he projects to be an offensive 2B or SS. Playing 2B could move him into the all star level.
Comparisons:
How about a less defensivley gifted Khalil Green?? I say Green's offense with Michael Youngs defense. I think this is very fair in that both those players were good college ball players. Green hit for tons of power at Clemson and just hit 27 HRs playing at Petco...I am not saying Beckham will do that, but physically they are very similar as well.
Draft:
As you can see from the projections, I do not have him getting out of the top 15. He is the best college middle INF in the draft.
Video:
Here is the MiLB draft scouting report http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/events/draft_report/y2008/index.jsp?mc=beckham
Not alot of video on him out there - if you live in the South, CSS is scheduled to show alot of UGA baseball games this year.
Here is the schedule:
4/1 @ 7PM
4/20 @ 9 PM
5/7 @7 PM
5/9 @ 7 PM
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