Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitching prospect Ryan Beckman underwent successful Tommy John surgery today, Pirates Prospects has learned. Beckman left the mound during his first appearance in Altoona on April 6th after throwing a pitch in the eighth inning, and has been out of action ever since.
Beckman had a strong season last year, with a 3.12 ERA in 52 innings in Bradenton, along with an 8.0 K/9 and a 3.1 BB/9 ratio. He spent most of his time as Bradenton’s closer, and was expected to be in a late inning role with Altoona this year.
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Tim is the owner and editor in chief of Pirates Prospects. He started the site in January 2009, and turned it into his full time job during the 2011 season. Prior to starting Pirates Prospects, Tim worked with AccuScore.com, providing MLB, NHL, and NFL coverage to various national media outlets, including ESPN Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Sports, and the Wall Street Journal. He also writes the annual Prospect Guide, which is sold through the site. Tim moved to Bradenton in 2013, and will be providing live coverage all year of the Bradenton Marauders, GCL Pirates, instructs, mini camp, Spring Training, and lunches at Mixon's Fruit Farms.
June 12, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Not counting guys who had it before they joined the system, can you think of any other Pirate prospect who had TJ since Lincoln? I can’t.
Twitter: timwilliamsp2
June 12, 2012 at 7:22 pm
I was going to talk about that in tonight’s “First Pitch”. I’ve been trying to think of the pitcher injuries. They’ve had some guys with TJ surgery, like Donald Veal, but I think this is the first guy that this group has drafted or signed that had TJ surgery.