Cody Glenn-USA TODAY Sports
For the first time since Sept. 26, 2019, Tyler Beede will take a major league mound. A different regime, a Tommy John surgery and a pandemic later, the 2014 first-round pick is back.
Beede was activated from the 60-day injured list, his rehab assignment over after the maximum 60 days, before Tuesday’s game against the Cardinals at Oracle Park. He immediately would be available out of the bullpen for the Giants, who designated reliever Jimmie Sherfy to make 40-man space. Outfielder Jaylin Davis (hamstring strain) hit the 10-day injured list and infielder Jason Vosler was called up to round out the day’s moves.
Beede had struggled in Triple-A, which made the Giants extend his rehab assignment until they could not anymore. The hope around the club is not just that the further he moves away from the March 2020 surgery, the more he’ll regain his command, but also that the stage can help his results.
“We feel like this extra adrenaline may help his focus and gives him a chance to really find that control,” Gabe Kapler said of the talented righty, who hadn’t quite broken through before the surgery.
Beede had flashed high-90s stuff with a sharp curveball and plus changeup, both in 2018 and ’19 and in an impressive 2020 spring training before he went down. The stuff has returned, but the command has not. Kapler allowed it was “not great” as he walked 32 in 35 2/3 innings with the River Cats.
For pitchers rehabbing from Tommy John, teams can request three additional 10-day extensions after the 30 rehab days are up. The Giants used all of them. If the command wasn’t there, Beede was encouraged by the stuff and by the fact he is feeling healthy, which is far from a guarantee.
“To see the velocity kind of at where it was before surgery, maybe even a little better, has been great,” Beede told KNBR in May. “The feel for my offspeed pitches, it kind of comes and goes — same thing with the feel for my mechanics and my delivery right now. … It’s the last thing to come is that feel, that rhythm and everything with your mechanics and command. But I’m pretty happy with it.”
With Sammy Long on the injured list, the Giants need to cover innings Friday in the first game of a series with Washington. Kapler said both Beede and Logan Webb are “considerations.” Webb, who was expected to pitch three innings with Sacramento on Tuesday, instead had a change of plans and was throwing on the field at Oracle Park. Kapler said there was no setback from his right shoulder strain. It seems the state of the Giants’ staff required his arm to be fresh.
The Giants have a few more arms to play with, including one whose stuff has never been questioned. They hope Beede can put it all together, including his command.
“It’s really exciting because I think he has a chance to impact us in a number of different ways, and he’s stretched out to give us as much length as we need,” Kapler said.