by Liz Rudolph / A’s Farm Beloit Correspondent
With the sixth overall pick of the 2017 amateur draft, the A’s selected 18-year-old Austin Beck, a high school outfielder out of Lexington, North Carolina known for his exceptional bat speed, his raw power and his strong arm. Beck made his pro debut last summer in the rookie-level Arizona League, where he got off to a bit of a slow start and finished up with a .211/.293/.349 slash line in 41 games.
Now, at just 19 years old, Beck is off to a strong start with the Beloit Snappers as he begins his first full season in the A’s system. It’s been a wintry April in Wisconsin, making it hard for hitters’ bats to heat up in the chilly climes. But despite the fact that five of Beloit’s first 12 games have been postponed due to bad weather, Beck’s hard work in the offseason is already paying off at the plate, and the young slugger currently leads Beloit with seven RBIs in his first eight games while slashing .265/.257/.382 for the Snappers. We recently took the opportunity to catch up with him while he had a little down time during a string of postponements.
AF: We’re going to get into the season so far in just a minute, but I want to start back around the draft. What was the draft process like for you, and your experience, especially at such a young age right out of high school?
AB: Coming off an ACL injury, it was definitely overwhelming. I was trying to come back and get healthy for the high school season. I was focused on that and focused on winning a state championship or another one at that. Then I just kind of got a reputation. There were a lot of scouts and scouting directors who came to the games. At the very end, there were a lot of people at the games. It was very overwhelming at first. Then it was kind of like, “I have to play my game or I’m not going to be on top of my game.” But the draft process is really fun, going to different cities and having pre-draft workouts. Oakland was definitely my favorite.
AF: You mentioned that knee injury. That was in your junior year of high school, correct?
AB: Right, yes.
AF: That was back in 2016. That included a torn ACL. What was the hardest part of the rehab process for you and coming back from that injury?
AB: Well, definitely the hardest part was that we were in a state championship run. It was tough watching some of my best friends out there playing baseball and I’m sitting in the dugout. But the only thing I could do is be the biggest cheerleader in the dugout and root for my team and tackle the rehab and get back as fast as possible.
AF: Do you find you take any more steps now, or any different steps, to keep yourself healthy after that injury?
AB: I do. I was never the one to stretch a lot before. And it was a freak thing. It was wet out, my knee just hyperextended and it tore my ACL/meniscus. But I do take a lot more care of my body now. You can’t really take the game for granted. It was taken away from me just like that and I don’t really want that to happen again.
AF: I want to ask about you as a player. You’ve been described as a very “toolsy” player. Are you zeroing in on developing any particular tool at this point in the season?
AB: Yeah, I’m just focused on squaring the baseball up right now. I feel like if I square the baseball up, the hits are going to come, the home runs are going to come. If I get on base, then I’m going to steal bags and pose a threat on the base paths and score runs for my team.
AF: You have the speed for center, which we’ve been seeing you play, and the arm for right. Can we expect to see you play some of both in Beloit?
AB: You definitely can. I played in high school, up through my junior year, I played in right field just because of my arm. I was fast too, obviously, and I hit for power, so they put me in right. But definitely, I’ll play anywhere as long as I get playing time.
AF: I’m sure in spring training, there was probably some back and forth about what the next step after spring training would be for you – whether it would be here or extended spring training in Arizona. Obviously, Beloit in April comes with some challenges as we are seeing. Did you have an opinion on what you wanted the next step to be for you after camp?
AB: I really didn’t. I just knew I wanted to be challenged. That’s how I thrive and that’s how I play at my best is being challenged. It’s only against the best competition available, or the best competition that’s right for me at the time is what I want. I play better doing it that way.
AF: Of course, hitting in cages isn’t what you were sent to Beloit to do. But the weather in Wisconsin has a big impact on what you can and can’t do. Do you feel it has affected or limited your development so far?
AB: I really don’t think so. Weather in North Carolina in our first half of the season, like on opening day I think my junior year, we had a snow-out. And then it snowed the whole week and we couldn’t play. So, I’m used to the snow and the cold weather. We had some days in high school at the end of the season that it’s been too hot. We couldn’t even get on the field to practice. I was kind of expecting the weather out here, and I was kind of used to it already.
AF: A’s special assistant Grady Fuson told A’s Farm during spring training that you were right on track, that you were calming things down and that your timing was starting to come. How much did you grow or improve just during spring training, even before starting the season in Beloit?
AB: I did a lot of offseason work. I slowed my hands down, slowed my whole body down, stayed short to the ball and long through it. When I got to spring training, it didn’t take me any time to get used to anything. I hit the ground running, which is what I wanted to do and which I felt like I was going to do, especially after how hard I worked in the offseason. Every day, I just look to improve on any little thing – plate discipline, squaring balls up, hitting balls up the middle.
AF: You’re off to a great start with some timely hitting. You’ve already got seven RBIs. Any other adjustments you’re trying to make? How are you feeling at the plate right now?
AB: I feel really good at the plate right now. There have been some balls I’ve squared up that just haven’t fell for hits, line drives and groundballs hit right at people, which they come. Baseball is a game of failure. But as long as I keep squaring the ball up, I should be fine.
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Listen to the audio version of Liz Rudolph’s interview with Austin Beck here…
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