Tristan Beck

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked San Francisco Giants #30 prospect in 2022
  Track Record: Injuries have followed Beck throughout his career. He dealt with back issues during his sophomore season in college, but the Braves still drafted him in the fourth round the following season. He was traded from Atlanta to San Francisco in the deal for closer Mark Melancon. Beck’s 2020 season was spent training remotely until instructional league. He dealt with a herniated disc in 2021 that limited him to 12 appearances and just four above Low-A.
  
  Scouting Report: When healthy, Beck works with a four-pitch mix fronted by a low-90s fastball that reaches 96 mph with excellent life up in the zone. He primarily backs up his fastball with a curveball and a changeup. The former averages around 80 mph with sharp downer break, and the Giants have challenged him to add more power to his curveball. His changeup is thrown in the low 80s and was his most relied-upon secondary in 2021. Beck has average control when he’s right, but he’s often rusty after missing time.
  
  The Future: Beck’s workload will have to be managed carefully in 2022. He’s likely to start the year at Double-A, where he’ll try to stay healthy.
  
• 
  Ranked San Francisco Giants #12 prospect in 2021
  TRACK RECORD: A back injury kept Beck out for his sophomore season at Stanford, but he rebounded well enough to return as a junior. Injury concerns remained, however, and he fell to the Braves in the fourth round. The Giants acquired Beck at the 2019 trade deadline in the deal that sent Mark Melancon to Atlanta, and the righthander's stuff immediately ticked up in his new organization. He spent 2020 working out on his own until reporting to instructional league in the fall.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Beck has exactly the kind of pitch mix the Giants covet. He uses his 90-94 mph four-seam fastball at the top of the zone and tunnels it with a downer, mid-70s curveball that has a chance to be a plus pitch. Beck also throws a mid-80s changeup and a slider, but those are his third and fourth pitches and are well behind his fastball and curve. Unsurprisingly for a Stanford product, Beck earns high marks for how he approaches pitching from a mental standpoint. He repeats his delivery and throws strikes with average control.
  
  THE FUTURE: After a 2019 season at high Class A, followed by a stint in the Arizona Fall League and more polish at instructional league, Beck should make his upper-level debut in 2020. He has the ceiling of a back-end starter.
• 
  Ranked San Francisco Giants #14 prospect in 2020
  TRACK RECORD: After suffering a stress fracture in his back that caused Beck to miss his sophomore year, he pitched all season for the Cardinal as a junior, but injury concerns meant he landed in the fourth round. The Braves snapped him up there and signed him for $900,000, but traded Beck to San Francisco in 2019 to acquire reliever Mark Melancon.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Beck's scouting report is a little different now that he's with the Giants. His pitch mix is still the same, but he's utilizing it differently. Now he's taking his mid-90s fastball and using it more often at the top of the strike zone, where it tunnels well with his solid-average 12-6 curveball. He also throws a solid-average slider and a below-average changeup that he'll continue to develop in 2020.
  
  THE FUTURE: After spending time at high Class A with both the Braves and Giants in 2019, Beck should move to Double-A Richmond in 2020. He has the stuff to pitch as a No. 4 starter in the big leagues.
• 
  Ranked Atlanta Braves #17 prospect in 2019
  Track Record: The Braves targeted Beck when he was a high school senior at Corona (Calif.) HS, but moved on when it was clear he wanted to head to Stanford. He was a draft-eligible sophomore but fell to the 29th round after he didn't pitch all season while recovering from a stress fracture in his back. Beck got on the mound for an effective junior season (8-4, 2.98), but concerns over his back and his durability meant the Braves got him several rounds later than they hoped to pick him in 2015.
  
  Scouting Report: Beck's stuff was not as consistent in 2018. He can still touch 96-97 mph early in games and he can snap off an above-average slider or curve, but he has significant trouble maintaining that velocity. He normally quickly slides back to 90-92 mph and his fastball flattens out. The Braves were very cautious with his innings in his pro debut. Beck has always been a craftsman more than a power pitcher, but his slider and curveball also backed up this year. At his best he has four average or better pitches, but early in his pro career, he's lacking a plus pitch. If his stuff can come close to what it is at its best and he maintains his average control, he's a mid-rotation starter. But that's a big if.
  
  The Future: A healthy Beck could move quickly. He should be ready for high Class A Florida in 2019.

Draft Prospects

• Ranked #31 prospect in 2018 draft
  Beck is back this year, but how's the back? That''ll be a question many teams will look to address before the draft, as Stanford's Friday night starter missed the entire 2017 season--in which he was draft-eligible--with a stress fracture in his back. That injury came after a terrific freshman campaign in which Beck started 14 games and posted a 2.48 ERA with 76 strikeouts and 26 walks in 83 innings. At his best, Beck has a four-pitch mix of pitches that are all above-average or better and he's comfortable getting hitters out with any of them, whether that be fastball, curveball, slider or changeup. After being sidelined for 630 days, the early returns on Beck in 2018 were positive and it seemed like he had returned to his freshman year form. Through his first three starts, Beck fanned 20 batters in 18 innings, compared to only four walks, and allowed just three earned runs. However, scouts say Beck's stuff has backed up as the season has progressed and his fastball has been closer to average than plus. His breaking ball has lacked sharpness, as well, and Beck has struggled to pitch deep into games at times. He'll be an arm that teams pay close attention to late in the season, just to see if there is any sort of jump in his stuff. When healthy, Beck has an impressive history of performing--both as a freshman at Stanford and as a high schooler in Southern California--and a true four-pitch mix.
• Ranked #41 prospect in 2017 draft
  Beck has become one of the more mysterious cases of the draft season, with very little information about his status available. He has not pitched all season after being diagnosed in February with a stress fracture in his lower back. While scouts have seen Beck stretching pregame and running extra baseballs out to umpires between innings, they haven't seen him throw, leading many to believe he's already arranged a deal with a club as Stanford's Cal Quantrill did with the Padres last year, when he sat out the year after Tommy John surgery. A source with direct knowledge said Beck had not gotten back on a mound yet by early May. When healthy, Beck was one of the nation's best pitchers in 2016 as a freshman, throwing four pitches that earned at least above-average grades. He locates his 90-93 mph fastball well and his changeup has similar life and action, running and cutting away from bat barrels. Beck's slider is behind his curveball, a true plus pitch at its best that flashes better. Some scouts considered it the best curve in the country last season, but the eligible sophomore hasn't shown it this spring, at least not on full display for scouts or in games for the Cardinal. His younger brother Brendan, a shortstop at Corona (Calif.) High, is a Stanford commit, so it's possible the two Becks could play together next season if no deal is on the table for Tristan.
• Ranked #63 prospect in 2015 draft
  Beck is the rare Southern California projection pitcher, rare because SoCal pitchers are usually seen more as finished products due to the year-round nature of baseball in the area. Beck has committed to Stanford (as has his younger brother Brandon, a sophomore who is Corona's shortstop) and is a tremendous student, which may make it difficult to sign him away from college. Beck has pitched with a solid-average 89-92 mph fastball this spring with some life down in the zone, with the pitch peaking at 94-95 at times. He has a capable slider that he throws with some power and a split-grip changeup that also shows some promise. He's listed as 6-foot-4, 160 pounds, and has strengthened somewhat this spring, but he'll need strength gains to last over a full pro year and to maintain his delivery over the course of a game and a season. He may learn to do that at Stanford unless he gets first-round money.

• December, 2021 Scouting Report
  Track Record: Injuries have followed Beck throughout his career. He dealt with back issues during his sophomore season in college, but the Braves still drafted him in the fourth round the following season. He was traded from Atlanta to San Francisco in the deal for closer Mark Melancon. Beck’s 2020 season was spent training remotely until instructional league. He dealt with a herniated disc in 2021 that limited him to 12 appearances and just four above Low-A.
  
  Scouting Report: When healthy, Beck works with a four-pitch mix fronted by a low-90s fastball that reaches 96 mph with excellent life up in the zone. He primarily backs up his fastball with a curveball and a changeup. The former averages around 80 mph with sharp downer break, and the Giants have challenged him to add more power to his curveball. His changeup is thrown in the low 80s and was his most relied-upon secondary in 2021. Beck has average control when he’s right, but he’s often rusty after missing time.
  
  The Future: Beck’s workload will have to be managed carefully in 2022. He’s likely to start the year at Double-A, where he’ll try to stay healthy.
  
• July, 2021 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: A back injury kept Beck out for his sophomore season at Stanford, but he rebounded well enough to return as a junior. Injury concerns remained, however, and he fell to the Braves in the fourth round. The Giants acquired Beck at the 2019 trade deadline in the deal that sent Mark Melancon to Atlanta, and the righthander's stuff immediately ticked up in his new organization. He spent 2020 working out on his own until reporting to instructional league in the fall.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Beck has exactly the kind of pitch mix the Giants covet. He uses his 90-94 mph four-seam fastball at the top of the zone and tunnels it with a downer, mid-70s curveball that has a chance to be a plus pitch. Beck also throws a mid-80s changeup and a slider, but those are his third and fourth pitches and are well behind his fastball and curve. Unsurprisingly for a Stanford product, Beck earns high marks for how he approaches pitching from a mental standpoint. He repeats his delivery and throws strikes with average control.
  
  THE FUTURE: After a 2019 season at high Class A, followed by a stint in the Arizona Fall League and more polish at instructional league, Beck should make his upper-level debut in 2020. He has the ceiling of a back-end starter.
• March, 2021 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: A back injury kept Beck out for his sophomore season at Stanford, but he rebounded well enough to return as a junior. Injury concerns remained, however, and he fell to the Braves in the fourth round. The Giants acquired Beck at the 2019 trade deadline in the deal that sent Mark Melancon to Atlanta, and the righthander's stuff immediately ticked up in his new organization. He spent 2020 working out on his own until reporting to instructional league in the fall.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Beck has exactly the kind of pitch mix the Giants covet. He uses his 90-94 mph four-seam fastball at the top of the zone and tunnels it with a downer, mid-70s curveball that has a chance to be a plus pitch. Beck also throws a mid-80s changeup and a slider, but those are his third and fourth pitches and are well behind his fastball and curve. Unsurprisingly for a Stanford product, Beck earns high marks for how he approaches pitching from a mental standpoint. He repeats his delivery and throws strikes with average control.
  
  THE FUTURE: After a 2019 season at high Class A, followed by a stint in the Arizona Fall League and more polish at instructional league, Beck should make his upper-level debut in 2020. He has the ceiling of a back-end starter.
• December, 2020 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: A back injury kept Beck out for his sophomore season at Stanford, but he rebounded well enough to return as a junior. Injury concerns remained, however, and he fell to the Braves in the fourth round. The Giants acquired Beck at the 2019 trade deadline in the deal that sent Mark Melancon to Atlanta, and the righthander's stuff immediately ticked up in his new organization. He spent 2020 working out on his own until reporting to instructional league in the fall.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Beck has exactly the kind of pitch mix the Giants covet. He uses his 90-94 mph four-seam fastball at the top of the zone and tunnels it with a downer, mid-70s curveball that has a chance to be a plus pitch. Beck also throws a mid-80s changeup and a slider, but those are his third and fourth pitches and are well behind his fastball and curve. Unsurprisingly for a Stanford product, Beck earns high marks for how he approaches pitching from a mental standpoint. He repeats his delivery and throws strikes with average control.
  
  THE FUTURE: After a 2019 season at high Class A, followed by a stint in the Arizona Fall League and more polish at instructional league, Beck should make his upper-level debut in 2020. He has the ceiling of a back-end starter.
• July, 2020 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: After suffering a stress fracture in his back that caused Beck to miss his sophomore year, he pitched all season for the Cardinal as a junior, but injury concerns meant he landed in the fourth round. The Braves snapped him up there and signed him for $900,000, but traded Beck to San Francisco in 2019 to acquire reliever Mark Melancon.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Beck’s scouting report is a little different now that he’s with the Giants. His pitch mix is still the same, but he’s utilizing it differently. Now he’s taking his mid-90s fastball and using it more often at the top of the strike zone, where it tunnels well with his solid-average 12-6 curveball. He also throws a solid-average slider and a below-average changeup that he’ll continue to develop in 2020.
  
  THE FUTURE: After spending time at high Class A with both the Braves and Giants in 2019, Beck should move to Double-A Richmond in 2020. He has the stuff to pitch as a No. 4 starter in the big leagues. BA GRADE 50 Risk: High BA GRADE 50 Risk: High BA GRADE 50 Risk: High
• February, 2020 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: After suffering a stress fracture in his back that caused Beck to miss his sophomore year, he pitched all season for the Cardinal as a junior, but injury concerns meant he landed in the fourth round. The Braves snapped him up there and signed him for $900,000, but traded Beck to San Francisco in 2019 to acquire reliever Mark Melancon.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Beck's scouting report is a little different now that he's with the Giants. His pitch mix is still the same, but he's utilizing it differently. Now he's taking his mid-90s fastball and using it more often at the top of the strike zone, where it tunnels well with his solid-average 12-6 curveball. He also throws a solid-average slider and a below-average changeup that he'll continue to develop in 2020.
  
  THE FUTURE: After spending time at high Class A with both the Braves and Giants in 2019, Beck should move to Double-A Richmond in 2020. He has the stuff to pitch as a No. 4 starter in the big leagues.