Former O’s Shortstop Tim Beckham is BALLING in Seattle

Former O’s shortstop Tim Beckham is crushing the ball as a member of the Seattle Mariners.

When Tim Beckham landed in Baltimore in the summer of 2017, he immediately got to work. Acquired via trade from Tampa Bay, the shortstop hit .306 in 50 games for the O’s, including 10 home runs, a .871 OPS, and a WAR of 2.o. Along with Manny Machado, he was a guy you just couldn’t take your eyes off of.

Last year, he regressed, unfortunately. In 96 games, he hit just .230 and to those watching, his previous performance in the black and orange felt like a fluke.

With Baltimore rebuilding, it didn’t make sense to keep Beckham around any longer. His stint wasn’t a disappointment, it was more of a timing issue. This offseason, he signed with the Seattle Mariners on a cheap, one-year, $1.75 million deal, never to be thought of by Baltimore’s faithful fanbase again.

Except, Beckham is the talk of the MLB right now; he’s on everyone’s mind. He’s crushing the ball from the batter’s box and doing it against elite arms.

And before you think I’m crazy, his success isn’t a one-game thing. Remember, Seattle and Oakland already played a pair of games in Japan on March 20th and 21st, followed by their traditional Opening Day game. He’s sustained his mashing for a legit period of time. Check the numbers (below).

In three games so far, Tim Beckham is hitting .583 (7-for-12) with six runs scored and three home runs. He’s also walked twice, giving him a .643 OBP (9-for-14).

One of his homers, shown above, came in Japan off Ryan Dull, but the other two came off of seven-time All-Star Chris Sale on national television. Of all his crazy stats thus far, taking Sale deep in consecutive at-bats is the most impressive, in my opinion. You can see them both below; the first, a 430-foot bomb to left field, comes at 0:14 while the second, another bomb that traveled over 400 feet, this time to dead center, starts at 1:14.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVUY0yxzSGY

Prior to his two jacks, Tim Beckham had been 0-for-15 in his career against Sale.

And thanks to those two bombs, he’s leading Major League Baseball in home runs.

The pace he’s currently on, of course, won’t last much longer but it’s not crazy to picture Beckham making an All-Star appearance this summer. After all, if you were to stretch that 50-game stretch he had with Baltimore in ’17 across a full season, he would have been an MVP candidate — 30-plus HR, .300-plus BA, 6.0-plus WAR.

Aside from the stats, he’s an easy guy to pull for. Players like him, he plays hard daily, and he’s engaging on a baseball field. Regardless of what happens moving forward, there should be nothing but love for our former shortstop.