Dylan Beavers, a promising outfield prospect for the Orioles, is determined to join the major league ranks.
Beavers, the No. 33 overall selection in the 2022 MLB Draft, displayed big-time power at the University of California, earning first-team All-Pac 12 honors in 2021 and 2022. He is a consensus top-10 prospect in the Orioles organization, having reached Double-A Bowie last summer.
Beavers, 22, is now in his second full professional season. The 6-foot-4, 206-pound outfielder is batting .312/.407/.481 with four doubles, three homers and 11 RBIs with the Baysox entering play on May 3.
Beavers is expected to spend much of the 2024 season at the Double-A level.
“I had anticipated coming back to Bowie just because it was kind of a shorter sample at the end of the year last year,” Beavers said on Glenn Clark Radio April 25. “I anticipated coming back here, so I wasn’t disappointed to be back. I want to perform early and hopefully keep moving along.”
The thought process to dominate at his current level is something that Beavers uses to fuel his desire to get to the next step.
“I kind of just take it day by day, especially with the state of this organization,” Beavers said. “There’s guys who play really well and in many other organizations could be moving along and they don’t, so I know that’s part of it. For me, I don’t think too much into that. I just try to get better and improve every single day.”
Beavers believes tapping into his power could be a turning point in gaining the momentum he needs to progress through the minor leagues more rapidly.
Last year with High-A Aberdeen, Beavers hit .273/.369/.463 with nine home runs and 48 RBIs before getting called up midseason to Bowie, where he hit .321/.417/.478 with two home runs and 12 RBIs in 34 games.
This year, Beavers only has seven extra-base hits with the Baysox, something he wants to improve upon.
“I felt like last year I didn’t take as many risks in certain counts,” Beavers said. “That was a little part of it, but it’s not like I am going into the box just trying to hit a home run. I want to keep the approach I had the second half of last year. I felt like I was successful with that, so I want to stick to that. It was more so something I worked on the offseason just trying to increase bat speed a little bit if I can. Mainly I worked really hard on being able to drive the ball to the middle of the field and back side of the field because I thought there was some more damage to be done there.”
Beavers hit 36 home runs in 123 games with Cal, but he realized he couldn’t replicate that success in pro ball by selling out for power.
“I tried that at the beginning of last year and it didn’t go so hot. That was a learning lesson for me and it makes it so now I’m not really pressing the matter, I’m just getting in there and thinking about hitting the ball hard, not necessarily the results,” Beavers said.
Beavers sees navigating through a deep Orioles farm system as a daunting but not insurmountable task with the right mindset.
“For me, I just feel like that’s something I can’t control no matter what. So thinking about it is pointless and adds stress,” Beavers said. “In the first couple years that I’ve been here, if you play well they’re going to find a way to get you up if they can. That’s been my focus. It makes it a lot more simple. I enjoy it a little bit more if I’m not thinking about that external stuff, just controlling what I can control. I also feel that I find more success that way.”
Beavers never doubts his natural ability to progress through the minors and remains undeterred by the competition.
“I think especially Double-A is when you’re running into the better competition in the minor leagues,” Beavers said. “There’s guys who get called up from Double-A straight to the big leagues in certain cases so just being around that kind of competition and talent, even on my team, it’s kind of like, ‘OK, I’m not that far off. I’m seeing good competition and having success.’ It definitely gives me a level of confidence.”
For more from Beavers, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Joe Noyes