Fireflies' Beeler proves 'Toastman' wrong

Bryce Beeler didn't think anyone would care about what he did on May 11, 2014, but an unlikely source triggered those memories on Friday. 

"Well, they have the Toastman here [in West Virginia]. He burns toasts for people to strike out, leads the chants and do all kinds of crazy stuff," Beeler said. "He actually brought up the start against Cincinnati in college, funny enough. I guess he knows more about me than I do."

Then a junior at the University of Memphis, Beeler -- who served primarily as the team's closer -- was making a rare start in an outing that didn't last very long.

"[The Toastman] was saying, 'Beeler's got one career start in college and he gave up six [runs] in two innings. How do you feel about a pitcher like that out on the mound?' " the Mets prospect said.

Turns out, Class A Columbia felt pretty good about Beeler on Friday as he yielded four hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings in a 2-0 blanking of West Virginia at Appalachian Power Park. He struck out five in his first professional start.

"I'm not going to lie, that was kind of in the back of my mind," Beeler said. "That was the last start I had. I used to start in high school, but I knew these guys' approach and kind of did my homework because we got to play them yesterday. So, luckily, I got to see what these guys are about for a little while before."

The 23-year-old right-hander retired the first 10 batters he faced, striking out four.

"I've been working a lot on my delivery and working on repeating it," Beeler said. "For the most part, tonight seemed to be one of the better nights I've actually repeated the delivery. I was able to work fastballs in and out. The curveball had little issues, but I would say my strong point was my changeup. When my mechanics are sound, I can really trust that thing and throw it pretty much in any count. It was definitely a high point I've been looking to get done lately."

The Tennessee native found trouble in the fourth, however, as Christian Kelley singled and Mitchell Tolman walked with one out. That promoted a visit from Fireflies pitching coach Jonathan Hurst.

"He pretty much just told me to flush that, forget about it and let's get the next guy," Beeler said. "He told me what to throw in the sequence to the next guy, and I just tried to stay in the zone. I was pitching to let them swing instead of pitching for called strikes."

Beeler was helped by catcher Natanael Ramos, who caught Kelley stealing third, before getting Carlos Munoz to ground out to second to end the frame. He worked around a two-out double in the fifth and a leadoff single in the sixth, exiting after allowing a one-out single to Daniel Arribas in the seventh.

"I kind of just stayed within myself," Beeler said. "Sometimes I find when I'm pitching on the road and I see all those guys against me, yelling and screaming and trying to get into my head, I kind of use that as fuel and try to do the opposite of what they want to happen to me. I kind of like everybody being against me, actually. I think it's pretty funny that a guy like me is someone they actually care enough to scream at."

Beeler reached his pitch count of 75, throwing 51 strikes. But he wasn't out of the woods.

Tyler Bashlor walked Ryan Nagle and hit Logan Hill to load the bases with one out in the seventh. 

"I was definitely nervous," Beeler said. "I actually felt good enough to keep going a little bit, but the pitch count got the collar out on me pretty soon in that inning. [Bashlor] came in and threw a couple of balls, but lucky enough, he figured it out and got the outs. I was sweating pretty good, sitting on the bench watching him though because I was rooting for him."

Bashlor fanned two in a 1-2-3 eighth before Alex Palsha earned his third save with a clean ninth, nailing down Beeler's first win in nearly two years.

The 2014 19th-rounder went 4-2 with a 3.13 ERA with Rookie-level Kingsport in his debut season, then underwent Tommy John surgery and sat out all of last year.

"The biggest challenge was definitely more mental than physical," Beeler said. "I had so much time off when I can't do anything. I would just go the field, do rehab for an hour and a half and have the rest of the day to do nothing. Luckily, I had some big leaguers with me. Josh Edgin kind of just took me under his wings and taught me things and kept me busy more than anything. Me and him got to be pretty good buddies through that."

Beeler returned to the mound on June 18 for Class A Short Season Brooklyn, tossing four hitless innings before picking up a save on June 24 with three perfect frames.

"Staying in extended [spring training] definitely wasn't any easy thing," he said. "I was probably one of the oldest guys there. Then I went to Brooklyn and I knew I was on the bubble of getting out of there. I knew if I pitched well, I was going to get out of there. Now if I can just keep doing that, hopefully, I can make some big contributions for this team."

The Fireflies offense got two hits apiece from J.C. Rodriguez and Dash Winningham. Mets No. 23 prospect David Thompson collected the lone RBI of the game with an infield single in the third.