'Something To Prove': Bucket Caps, Bounce Backs and Jeremy Beasley's Blue Jays Return

Jeremy Beasley earned his way back onto the Blue Jays roster with re-tooled mechanics and an offseason of finding his control.

Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes the first opportunity is the last one you get. Once you're sent down, you don't know if you'll ever get back to the big leagues.

Jeremy Beasley has seen that story and vowed he wasn't going to be that guy. The 26-year-old owned a 7.71 ERA in eight games with the Blue Jays last season, walking nine batters and giving up three costly homers. He was removed from Toronto's 40-man roster and cleared waivers in July, unclaimed by every other MLB team. But after the season, Beasley promised himself and his fiancé he would be back.

“I’m gonna do it,” Beasley told his future wife. “I’m gonna get myself back to the big leagues. I’m gonna do everything I can, exhaust every resource I can to get back to the big leagues.”

When the Blue Jays added Beasley to their major league roster on Thursday, calling him up in place of an injured Hyun Jin Ryu, the righty was vindicated. Finding his command in the offseason with some mechanical tweaks and homemade contraptions, Beasley made good on his promise.

“I think he had something to prove," bullpen coach Matt Buschmann said. "And he’s kind of proved it.”

In over 26 innings for Triple A Buffalo this season, Beasley owns a 1.01 ERA. The 26-year-old has been the best multi-inning weapon in Toronto's upper minors, striking out over 10.5 batters per nine, regularly working two to four innings, and, most importantly, filling up the zone.

Beasley’s stuff was never in question. It’s what drew the Jays to Beasley in the first place Buschmann said, and the velocity even ticked up higher early last season. Getting that stuff in the zone, however, has been a struggle. Beasley's spinning fastball and secondary pitches constantly fell for balls in 2021, with 26 free passes in 32.2 total innings.

With the control issues part mental and part mechanical, Beasley entered the offseason with a plan. His lower body mechanics have always been sound, as evidenced by the rising velocity, but Beasley spent the winter taking "checkpoints" out of his arm action, cleaning up the delivery to get to his arm slot smoother and sooner.

“Everything’s more efficient," Beasley said. "I’m moving better, I feel better, my body is better now."

With a polished delivery, Beasley worked in California and Georgia during the offseason to rebuild confidence in his weapons. At his house in Georgia, he created his own "nine spot strike zone," strapping together the lids of buckets as nine sections of a zone to throw at. His offseason was filled with the thwack of ball against bucket cap, working his slider into the lower left quadrant, splitter along the bottom, and challenging himself to move around the zones with his heater. Pitch after pitch, he'd pick a lid and hit it.

“It’s made it a lot easier this season to go up and in with my fastball, because I’ve done it 1,000 times,” Beasley said.

Not on the Blue Jays 40-man roster, Beasley showed up early to Dunedin for Toronto's minor-league camp. He had an opportunity to flex his new control against younger hitters before joining MLB Spring Training, and it was obvious he had a newfound trust in his stuff, Buschmann said.

Though he wasn't in contention for an MLB job in camp, Beasley's confidence and flushed out mechanics carried into the season, aligning for 26.2 of the most effective innings he's pitched at any level. Beasley has felt good all season, but when he got the call back to the big leagues, the recognition was unlike anything he's felt before.

“This feels more satisfying to me than when I debuted," Beasley said. "It felt like I had to build myself all the way back up.”