By Dave Krider
MaxPreps.com
Griffin (Ga.) senior Tim Beckham has a shot at being the No. 1 player taken in the annual June Major League Baseball Draft and, who knows, could be enshrined some day in the Hall of Fame, based in Cooperstown, N.Y.
However, he already left his mark in Cooperstown during a tournament– as a 12-year-old.
Playing shortstop for a team from Fayette County, young Beckham pursued a high pop foul. At break-neck speed, he raced past third base toward the left field line and reached over the fence to make a spectacular catch.
“After the game an umpire asked if he could have his autograph,” Tim’s father, Jimmy Beckham, recalled. “The ground he covered was extraordinary. That’s the first time his baseball talent was rewarded.”
Signing the autograph didn’t faze Beckham one way or another. He related, “I just laughed it off. I didn’t know what to say. I was just 12.”
The 6-foot-2, 187-pounder has done enough amazing things in his short life – both in the field and at the plate – to already have legitimate claim to being a Georgia legend. Here are just a few other gems:
-- As a sixth grader, Tim and eighth grade brother Steven were asked to fill in for the short-handed Griffin High varsity during a summer league game at East Coweta (Sharpsburg). He got a hit off a varsity pitcher that night. “I didn’t really think anything of it,” the confident teenager conceded. Coach Jamie Cassady noted, “They weren’t intimidated and were there to get in their hacks. We knew he was better than most sixth graders.”
-- Playing for the Atlanta Blue Jays elite travel team, Beckham collected 18 hits in 21 at-bats during the week-long Best Baseball World Series in Port Charlotte, Fla. He batted a lofty .409 with nine homers, 15 doubles, eight triples and 32 stolen bases. Coach Anthony Dye said that one night at 11 o’clock, Beckham sent him a text message, reminding him, “You know, I didn’t make an out today.” Dye laughed, “That went on for about three days.”
-- At age 15, playing against 17-year-olds, during a wooden bat tournament in Marietta, Ga., Beckham injured his leg, but claimed he was not hurt. Dye took him out, anyway, but later, with the Blue Jays trailing, another player was hurt and Beckham had to re-enter. He blasted a shot into the left field gap which would have been a sure double, but he aggravated the injury running toward first base.
“He literally had to crawl half way to first base,” the dismayed Dye recalled. “They almost threw him out. He was out for six weeks and missed playing in the 15-and-under World Series.”
Oh, by the way, he drove in two runs to win the game.
As Dye puts it, “Tim hates to lose at anything. We play Madden and it’s like war in the house.”
-- Playing second base as a 16-year-old during a tourney in San Bernardino, Calif., Beckham back-handed a shot up the middle. His momentum carried him toward left field, but before falling down he flipped the ball between his legs to the shortstop, who completed a scintillating double play.
-- Then, there are the tape-measure home runs. His longest, he believes, was an estimated 425 feet this spring during a home game against Riverdale. “It broke a limb and ended up in a tree,” Beckham related. As far as anybody knows, the ball still may be stuck in that tree as an everlasting tribute to a growing Georgia legend.
-- And, of course, we can’t stop without this one. The field at Marietta Sprayberry is surrounded by three separate fences to keep balls from flying onto Sandy Plains Road. Well, one day Beckham kissed one not only over the trio of fences, but into the middle of the busy road (an estimated 405 feet). It then bounced across the road into a church parking lot.
Jimmy used to chase down his son’s home runs to keep as souvenirs, but they have become so common place that even he doesn’t look for them any more, Tim says.
Tim has a lot of people to thank for his brilliant career – and what lies ahead. He began playing baseball at age five with older brothers Steven and Jeremy and was coached by his father for several years. His dad put him at shortstop and that always has been his favorite position. His greatest mentor probably is Jeremy, now a senior second baseman at Georgia Southern and potential draft choice himself.
“Jeremy never told his little brother he couldn’t come along,” Jimmy says proudly. “It made a difference to have two older brothers. They kind of set the bar and he kind of raised it. He wouldn’t accept not being better than his brothers. He never shied away from big boys. He always tried to meet the challenge. He fits in with older boys. He’s a leader.
“They (coaches) told Tim in eighth grade that he would be the shortstop as a ninth grader. A lady happened to overhear the conversation and she said, ‘You have some big shoes to fill (meaning Jeremy).’ He said, ‘Lady, I’m going to be better than J.B. (Jeremy).’ ’’
Tim was quick to admit, “My brothers were rough. They made me mentally tough.”
Obviously, Tim never has lacked confidence. Perhaps, he can thank his father for that, too. Jimmy admitted, “I looked at my life and that (self confidence) was one area I was weak in. I have prayed for my sons to be strong and have no fears. I just think it’s a prayer answered.”
Surprisingly, there were three years as a young athlete that Tim actually did not play baseball in favor of football and basketball. He was MVP as a sixth grade wide receiver and played varsity basketball until his junior year when he quit to concentrate solely on baseball.
Jeremy got another major assist in his brother’s career when he introduced him to his travel coach, Anthony Dye, at age 13. Dye, who played professional baseball for four years, had taught Jeremy “a lot of advanced fielding and hitting (techniques). He said, ‘If I’d known all this before, I’d be a much better player.’ Jeremy asked me to work with Tim.
“I told Tim, ‘If you play baseball, you can get drafted right out of high school and I can get you a $1 million dollar contract.’ He was like, ‘Nah, no way.’ But from that moment I had his attention. I’m not amazed because I told the scouts when he was 14 that I had a (future) first-round draft pick.”
Beckham remembers that moment quite well, too. He recalled, “My brother, Jeremy, told me I could make this an every-day thing and get paid for the game I loved.”
The youngest Beckham definitely was athletic. He can run a swift 6.35-second 60-yard dash today. And he was somewhat of a natural hitter. But…he also had plenty to learn.
Listen to Anthony Dye, who became his major tutor at age 13. “He was AWFUL! I told him, ‘I can’t do anything with you.’ Tim wanted to play shortstop. I said, ‘Dude, you can’t even get down and field a ground ball. You go to center field.’ He just kept working. He has a great work ethic. After his freshman year, he told me, ‘I want to be the No. 1 player in the nation.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to get rid of basketball.’ I wasn’t even seeing him from the end of October until February.”
Dye has delighted in teaching Beckham about living and training as a professional player, things he had to learn the hard way. “It’s kind of like me living again through him and having him not make the mistakes I made,” he explained. “He was a little rough around the edges, but we had a plan – things we wanted to work on year by year.”
The first thing Dye did was teach his young protégé to “get in front of the ball and make sure you read the ball laterally. Then how to charge the ball. I got him a trainer. I’d bring speed and agility guys out to the field. I got him in the weight room. He also did things that I told him on his own at home. He was a good hitter, but we worked on the mental approach. Have a plan at the plate and don’t get yourself out. I’d require him to take notes and keep a log of his at-bats. He’s probably the most athletic kid I’ve ever coached.”
Take natural ability and mix it with a huge work ethic and you’ve got Tim Beckham. “I had to get in the weight room,” Beckham pointed out. “I started weights in ninth grade and I lifted every day. I can bench 280 pounds now. I’ve worked on hitting every day (in the past two years). I stay after practice and I come to the field on Sundays when nobody else is there. I haven’t changed anything – it’s just about being consistent.”
Beckham started at shortstop on the Griffin varsity JV as an eighth grader. As a freshman he played right field, second base and third base before moving to shortstop late in the season. He batted No. 7 in the order. He didn’t mind the “Griffin Shuffle,” because as he put it, “I was a freshman. I just wanted to play.” Coach Cassady added, “He had good hands and if you can hit, you’ll find a way into the lineup. He hit three or four home runs that year.”
As a sophomore, Beckham nailed down the shortstop position from Day One. He came out of basketball with no practice and homered on his very first trip to the plate. He batted an outstanding .405 with five home runs, three triples and six doubles. He drove in 22 runs. He also scored 30 runs and stole 15 bases in 16 tries. He walked nine times and struck out 10 times.
During his sophomore and junior years, he batted in either the No. 2 or 3 slot where he could either advance or drive in runs. Cassady was quick to point out, “He likes to be in that (clutch) position.” Beckham agrees, noting, “There’s so much adrenaline when I’m up at the plate. It puts a smile on my face. I love it.”
Beckham’s junior year – his first without basketball - he batted an outstanding .512 with six home runs, five triples and five doubles. He scored 42 runs and drove in 36. He walked 15 times and fanned just seven times in 82 at-bats. He also was perfect on 13 stolen base attempts.
Last summer was fabulous, indeed. For example, he was named Youth Player of the Year by Baseball America. He also was MVP in the Aflac All-American game, driving in the winning run with a sacrifice fly after laying off a couple of tantalizing curve balls. Another great honor he achieved was being named “best prospect” at the prestigious East Coast Showcase in Lakeland, Fla.
This year the five-tool superstar is leading off and batting .472 with five homers, four triples and 10 doubles. He has scored 40 runs and driven in 37. He has drawn 23 walks and stolen 18 bases in 19 attempts.
Beckham has led the Bears to a 24-5 record and the final eight in the Class AAAA state playoffs. Last week the Bears eliminated Statesboro in a twinbill, 14-2 and 4-2. Beckham went 2-for-5 at the plate with four walks and scored four runs.
The major league scouts continue to come in droves. “Cassady points out, “We’ve had scouts at all of our games and at all but two we have had multiple scouts. At 60 percent of our practices, there has been somebody. A record number of general managers (at least seven) now know where Griffin, Ga., is,” he laughed.
Meanwhile, Beckham insists there is no pressure. “I don’t really think it’s that much pressure,” he says. “I still play like they’re not there. I’m still going 100 percent.”
Beckham carries a 3.0 GPA and has signed with the University of Southern California. Odds are he’ll never wear a Trojan uniform, however.
Beckham is right where Dye wanted him to be. “I wanted to make sure he had everything in order,” Dye said of his year-to-year plan. “Kids get a lot of hype and exposure too soon.” His “gut feeling” about the upcoming draft is “top three, but I hope it’s No. 1.”
Jimmy Beckham revealed that Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, who have the top two picks, have shown great interest in his son. In fact, only the Kansas City Royals among the top five appear not to be interested because they want an older player who can help them as soon as possible.
“I’ve been told he’s the best athlete in the draft,” Jimmy Beckham related. “He’s done his part to be in the best possible position.”
The chips will fall on June 5-6.