TAMPA – With a team-issued duffle bag and a pair of cowboy boots sitting in front of his locker, Yankees pitching prospect Clayton Beeter prepared to leave Tampa on Monday.
The footwear will fit in just fine where Beeter is heading: his home state of Texas. More specifically, the Fort Worth native is going to Houston with the Yankees, where they will start their season against the Astros on March 28.
Beeter has not officially made the team’s Opening Day roster, but he was told to make the trip.
“They said I won the spot internally [but it’s] pending whatever happens in the next few days,” Beeter said, referring to potential roster moves as teams make cuts across baseball. “But I guess nothing official yet. I just know I’m going to Houston.”
Despite living nearly four hours away, Beeter expects to have a large cheering section at Minute Maid Park after an impressive spring that saw him record a 3.18 ERA with six walks and 17 strikeouts over 17 innings.
“I came in here with the goal of trying to be more efficient, throw more strikes and really just let my stuff play, and I think I did pretty well at that,” Beeter told the Daily News. “I feel like I’ve shown I can help for sure.”
The Yankees, meanwhile, are hoping that Beeter can provide innings out of the bullpen, if only in the early days of the season. They still want to develop their 14th-best prospect, acquired in the 2022 trade that sent Joey Gallo to the Dodgers, as a starter. But he’s “a nice option out of the pen where you can elevate his arsenal in shorter bursts, but he can still give you length,” Matt Blake told The News.
“We know he’s got a good fastball, and he’s had a good slider that he gets chase on,” the pitching coach added. “He gets miss on both those pitches. In the rotation, he’s been working to add a changeup to kind of give him a third option. He kind of changes speeds a little bit on the breaking ball between kind of a curveball and slider, but the changeup would be a different pitch to add.
“But I do think just his presence on the mound, he’s pretty steady. He attacks the zone, which I think, historically, just strike throwing has been a little bit of a concern. But he did a really nice job this spring of getting after the strike zone with his fastball and slider and just pitching to his strengths. And he’s got two really good strengths. So I think those are things we can lean on.”
Beeter split the 2023 season between Double-A and Triple-A. The Texas Tech product and 2020 second-round pick tallied a 3.62 ERA over 27 games (26 starts).
The Yankees have mostly used Beeter in relief this spring. On Saturday, he entered a game against the Tigers in the middle of an inning, “which is something we wanted to check off the list,” bench coach Brad Ausmus said.
Beeter allowed one earned run over four innings.
“I don’t mind it. I’ve done it before,” Beeter said of bullpen work. “Obviously, everyone wants to be a starter, but if there’s a way to help the team as a reliever, then I’m all for it.
“Whatever they need me to do.”
The Yankees have two – let’s call them full-time – openings in their bullpen. They can also carry an extra reliever for a few days since Luis Gil, named the fifth starter, won’t be needed until April 1 in Arizona. It’s unclear if Beeter will be the extra man; non-roster invitees Nick Burdi and Dennis Sanatana are also in contention for roster spots.
Beeter isn’t sure how long he will stick around, but he’s nonetheless looking forward to his major league debut.
“I’ve worked really hard for this for a long time,” he said.
