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At long last, Rays' Tim Beckham shows signs of success

 
Tim Beckham, right, gets a high-five from Evan Longoria after homering against the Blue Jays, one of two this season for the Rays rookie.
Tim Beckham, right, gets a high-five from Evan Longoria after homering against the Blue Jays, one of two this season for the Rays rookie.
Published April 21, 2015

You learn things when you're a teenage star.

And you learn a few more when the crowds stop calling your name.

So Tim Beckham knows better than to sound bitter, and he knows better than to sound cocky. He has a pretty good idea of what the baseball world thinks about him, and he isn't going to offer unnecessary ammunition with ill-chosen words.

So instead of dissecting the past or predicting the future, the No. 1 pick in the 2008 draft is focused on today. And, as it turns out, that ain't so bad.

Two weeks after making his first opening day roster, Beckham has acquitted himself well. He has more RBIs than Evan Longoria and more total bases than Desmond Jennings. He has played parts of 10 games at second base and shown up at shortstop in another two. He has hit two home runs and watched as Blue Jays leftfielder Kevin Pillar climbed a wall and stole a third from him.

"What I've seen the past two weeks is a player who is hungry, a player who understands the opportunity in front of him," Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman said. "I've seen a guy whose confidence is increasing every game. He's had some success, and I think that is making him a more confident and productive player."

Can it last? That certainly seems possible.

Will it last? That's a more convoluted question.

Beckham, 25, is on the roster only because the Rays were in a bind. Had Nick Franklin not strained an oblique muscle late in spring training, Beckham would have started his eighth consecutive season in the minors.

So, one would assume, Beckham will be on the first plane back to Triple-A Durham when Franklin is scheduled to return sometime in May.

But what if he keeps punishing the ball? What if his versatility in the middle infield continues to pay dividends? What if he starts showing more plate discipline?

"I'm not looking at how Franklin is doing, and I'm not worrying about what the front office is thinking," Beckham said. "As a player, I can only control what's in front of me. I'm trying to maximize my performance every day, and adding pressure by worrying about what other people are doing is not going to help me."

Were he any other player, the conundrum would be less intriguing. He'd go back to Triple A and be largely forgotten until he had a big-league roster spot of his own.

But, of course, it's not that simple with Beckham.

There was a time when he was considered a potential cornerstone of this franchise. When the Rays chose him ahead of Buster Posey in 2008, ESPN analyst Keith Law said Beckham had the best chance of any player in the draft of being a superstar.

Somewhere along the line, most everyone stopped believing that.

It's not that Beckham bombed, he just didn't progress as quickly or as dramatically as hoped. He routinely hit in the .260 range, stole some bases and had gap power. Yet his value seemed to get swallowed by the expectations.

"I know a lot of people don't expect me to have much pop," Beckham said. "But I know I can hit hard line drives on a consistent basis. It's a question of swinging at pitches in the zone."

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In retrospect, his most impressive quality may have been his refusal to concede or buckle under as the doubts began to grow around him.

"That's the inner drive we saw in him as an 18-year-old," Silverman said.

Beckham was the 22nd player in MLB history to be drafted No. 1 and signed straight out of high school. Most of the others either found a home in the big leagues after getting somewhere between 1,000-1,500 plate appearances in the minors, or they gave up.

Only Al Chambers (Seattle's No. 1 pick in 1979) exceeded 3,000 minor-league plate appearances. Beckham sits at 2,812.

Depending on how the next few weeks go, there is a chance Beckham will be logging even more minor-league at-bats this summer.

But if the past dozen games have taught us anything, it is that Beckham has a chance to be a productive big-leaguer by 2016 and beyond. He may not be the superstar you once envisioned, but the ability and skills to be a valuable commodity remain.

All these years later, Beckham still has faith.

You should, too.