Dallas Beeler

Organization Prospect Rankings

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  Ranked Chicago Cubs #24 prospect in 2014
  Beeler, whose brother Chase was an all-America center for Stanford's football team, didn't pitch after mid-May due to a torn tendon in his right middle finger. He made up for lost time by throwing well in the Arizona Fall League, earning a 40-man-roster spot. He admires Roy Halladay and has adopted the same knee-tuck mechanics and similar arm slot, working to make his 89-92 mph fastball sink, cut and run away from the middle of the plate. He can touch 94 mph with the fastball and has a slurvy slider as his main breaking ball, working to get early contact with both pitches. He uses both forkball-type of splitter that he can use in the strike zone and a more conventional split-finger pitch that he tries to bury out of the zone. Beeler added a cutter in the AFL to help him get inside on lefthanders, and it showed promise in the high 80s with late cut. His Fall League showing was that of a back-end starter--if he can stay healthy (he also had Tommy John surgery in 2009). He should graduate to Triple-A Iowa for the first time.
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  Ranked Chicago Cubs #12 prospect in 2012
  Beeler began his college career by helping Seminole State (Okla.) reach the 2009 Junior College World Series, then had Tommy John surgery following the season. Expected to miss all of 2010 after transferring to Oral Roberts, he came back at midseason and showed enough for the Cubs to draft him in the 41st round and sign him for $150,000. They handled Beeler carefully in his first full pro season, letting him work as many as five innings only once before June, but he still forced his way to Double-A. Chicago also kept his innings down by shelving him for two weeks when he strained an oblique in late April and for a month when he came down with shoulder tendinitis in late July. Beeler flashed more plus pitches (three) than he had victories (two) in 2011. He throws an 89-93 mph fastball that runs down and in on righthanders, inducing plenty of groundouts. He has a hard curveball that gets slurvy at times, and he also has a changeup with nifty sink. Beeler throws across his body, which creates deception but doesn't prevent him from filling the strike zone. He still needs to refine his command, however. He's a good athlete who helped Jenks (Okla.) High win two Oklahoma state 6-A championships as a wide receiver. The Cubs will turn Beeler loose in 2012, when he's set to open the season back at Tennessee. A potential No. 3 starter, he's battling his brother Chase (a center on the San Francisco 49ers' practice squad) to become the first member of the family to reach the big time in his sport.