Happy Birthday Blaine Beatty

Who?

Born Gordon Blaine Beatty in 1964, Blaine Beatty pitched all of 7 games and 16 IP for the Mets — 2 appearances in 1989 and another 5 in 1991. He was a lefthanded pitcher in the wrong place at the wrong time — this was when the Mets had starting pitchers such as Doc Gooden, Frank Viola, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Bob Ojeda, David Cone, and Sid Fernandez. Heck, their staff was so deep, both Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani were dead weight.

Beatty, however, was probably better then than Jonathan Niese is now — an intriguing thought, eh? A 9th-round pick of the Orioles out of Baylor in 1986, Beatty went 11-3 in the NY-Penn League that year, then 17-6 combined at A and AA in ’87. He was traded to the Mets in return for Doug Sisk — which in itself was enough of a contribution to the organization — and posted a 16-8 record at AA Jackson. Through 11 seasons in the minors, Beatty was an impressive 121-69 with a 3.26 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. Looking at those numbers, and his southpaw status, and it’s hard to believe that those 7 games in the orange and blue comprised his entire MLB career. Today, he’d be a blue-chip, untouchable prospect.

Nowadays, Beatty remains in the game, the pitching coach for the Frederick Keys (Baltimore Orioles). He’s spent ten years as a minor league coach, among his pupils Brian Bannister, Garrett Olson, Mike Gonzalez, and Scott Kazmir.

Also born on this day: super utilityman Tony Phillips (1959), pitcher Bob Johnson (1943), and reliever Brad Clontz (1971).