In 1964 a lively, rhyming Shirley Ellis song called “The Name Game” was a Billboard Hot 100 surprise, rocketing all the way to # 3 on the music charts. In 2013, “The Name Game” might refer to two New York Met Pitching Wheelers in baseball circles. That’s Zack Wheeler, the hard-throwing rookie power pitcher drawing rave reviews in Flushing, and Beck Wheeler, a lesser known relief pitcher turning some heads out of the bullpen for the Savannah Sand Gnats.
Beck Wheeler’s story almost reads like a movie script. Growing up in San Diego, California, he feel in love with baseball early on. A high school football star, Wheeler loved playing baseball so much he decided to forgo his senior season on the gridiron to eliminate any chance of an injury that might derail a pending college baseball career. The athletic Wheeler planned to attend Pacific College to play shortstop.
Wheeler also enjoyed wakeboarding. On June the 9th, 2007, the recent high school graduate was out with a bunch of buddies on a friend’s boat wakeboarding. As is natural when a group of teens gather, the music blared and the guys were having fun. At some point, Wheeler decided it would be cool jumping off into the water behind the boat.
Thinking everyone was on board, the driver put the boat in reverse. With Wheeler screaming but unheard over the tunes, the boat ran over Wheeler, the engine badly cutting up his legs, causing eight lacerations, a torn hamstring, and requiring 84 staples to close him up.
His family had planned a trip to Hawaii as a graduation present for Beck, scheduled a week after the accident. With youthful optimism, Wheeler asked his doctor if he still might make the trip, only to be told the sobering news the doctor suspected he might never walk again.
A fiery determination, natural athleticism and a lot of hard work found Wheeler back on his feet within a month. Although he had been promised he could redshirt by Pacific, the Tiger coaches got him in the final four games of his freshman season, costing him a year of college eligibility.
Wheeler transferred to Orange Coast College, a junior college in the Empire Conference after his freshman year, and was a shortstop sensation. Wheeler batted .340, scored 33 runs and knocked home 30 more to lead his team to a State Jr. College Championship.
His play at shortstop continued as a junior, this time with UC Santa Barbara. A .297 batting average made Wheeler one of the leading hitters on the Gauchos. It was during his senior year in college that his baseball career took a detour.
Needing added pitching support, the Santa Barbara coach sought position players who might consider working as pitchers out of the bullpen. Wheeler volunteered. Unknown at the time, his charitable team spirit would later pay baseball dividends.
Pitching progress came slowly at first for Wheeler. The Gauchos right-hander only pitched a total of four innings as a senior at Santa Barbara. His college coach knew a Met scout and invited the scout to pay his team a visit. The scout watched each pitcher on the Gauchos staff throw a bullpen session. As luck would have it, Wheeler’s session went well, and the unsung, inexperienced, little used pitcher, caught the Met scout’s eye.
The Mets didn’t draft Wheeler, but the day after the 2011 draft signed him for $1,000 as a non-drafted free agent, a move that could figure as an all-time Met bargain. After his signing, Wheeler had this to say:
“I think what the Mets most liked about me was I have a live arm and pitching is something that is relatively new for me, so they figured they could shape me the way they want.”
Reporting to the Gulf Coast Mets, Wheeler got his professional career off to a bang, pitching in 14 games out of the bullpen, and going 3-0 with a sparkling 0.87 ERA. Things didn’t go so smoothly in 2012 pitching in the NY-Penn League for Brooklyn.
Wheeler had trouble with his fastball command, but his strikeout numbers continued to rise. The novice pitcher fanned 11.89 batters per every nine innings. He was assigned to Low-A ball in Savannah this spring, and has consistently kept his fastball in the strike zone and has emerged as a force on the mound. In fact, six years after a boating accident that nearly took his life, Beck Wheeler was pitching in the South Atlantic League All-Star game.
A closer for the Sand Gnats, Wheeler has racked up 17 saves, fourth-best in the SAL. The right-hander has a stingy 1.75 ERA holding opposing hitters to an anemic .174 batting average. And, Wheeler’s strikeout numbers have continued to climb, with the Sand Gnat closer whiffing a remarkable 13.40 batters per nine innings.
A survivor in baseball and life, Wheeler has made a believer of Savannah pitching coach and former New York Met 20-game winner Frank Viola. Here’s what Viola told Nathan Dominitz about his closer in a piece he wrote for the Savannah Morning News:
“I think the closer role is made for him because of everything he’s gone through in life. Nothing bothers him. He’s thankful every day he’s alive… He’s got that even keel you look for in tight situations. He’s got that killer attitude that’s internal. I wouldn’t think such a mild mannered young man would be such a bulldog on the mound. You like to see that.”
Viola loves Wheeler’s emerging curveball and says it reminds him of a similar pitch Hall of Famer Bert Blylevan once threw. Viola says his pupil’s curveball is almost major league ready, and calls his split-finger fastball “already there.”
Beck Wheeler may share a last name with a Met prospect who is well known across the baseball world, but like Shirley Ellis who rocked the music world with her “Name Game” tune in 1964, the Sand Gnat closer is playing a rapidly rising “name game” of his own in Savannah.