Blair Beck Chat

Blair Beck is a graduate of Kansas University. He was originally signed to play professional baseball by the Tampa Bay Rays. He spent the 2015 season in their organization before joining the Thunderbolts in 2016. And here in the 2016 season, he has been really an all-around utility man for the Thunderbolts playing infield, outfield, and today he plays the role of interviewee.

Welcome to the Press Box, Blair. Thanks, good to be here. So let's talk a little bit about your beginning in the game of baseball. Of course, you grew up in Texas.

So what introduced you to the game? How did you end up getting involved in it? You know, when I was really little, my parents put me in a lot of sports. And actually my favorite sport probably growing up was soccer.

But, you know, going from soccer practice to football to baseball, I had to pick one. And I was a little bit better at baseball, so I chose that one. I know you've got a very athletic family. Both your parents were pretty competitive athletes, weren't they?

Yeah, my mom, she was a golfer at Texas Tech and is a 12-time champion back home, city champion. And my dad was a football player, quarterback, and punter at Texas Tech, and then went on to try for the Cowboys. And so yeah, pretty athletic. Your mother was a golfer, your father was a football player, but you grew up loving soccer.

And then you ended up in baseball professionally, so you're kind of well-rounded in that regard. Yeah. You know, I think, you know, being able to play all the sports really, you know, helped my athleticism all around. And, you know, having a little brother too, Connor, always, you know, messing around, pushing each other jobs also.

And your brother's also a baseball player, isn't he? Yeah, I think his favorite sport when he was growing up was football, and he was a quarterback, and I was a punter, so we didn't really have good combos at the dinner table. But yeah, he's playing baseball right now at Texas Tech, so he's doing really well. Yeah, I didn't initially make the connection between punters and playing soccer, so you've got kind of the kicking gene in the family too.

You're from Midland, Texas. You're going to have to help me out with Texas geography a little bit. As far as the professional sports franchises, are you more of a Dallas guy or a Houston guy? Well, one of my best friends, Alex Bregman, is in the big leagues right now with the Astros, so I support the Astros as much as I can.

And right now, I'd probably have to say Houston, but football-wise, like NFL, the Cowboys. Now, you were growing up, the Houston Texans were around by that point, so is there a legitimate rivalry? I know the two cities aren't right next to each other, but Texas is such a big state geographically, but it's also kind of like a territory of its own in some ways. So are there major rivalries even?

I know they're at the college level, but at the professional level, are there rivalries between those teams? I mean, not... I would guess at the professional level, but I mean, I guess it really depends on what sport you look at. NFL, I don't really see a big rivalry, but in baseball, I guess it's who owns the state of Texas is at the Astros or the Rangers, so I guess there's a little bit there.

Yeah, that's got to be a good debate, especially going on right now. A couple of teams over the last few years have been very good and looks to continue to be that way going forward. Let's talk about your life in baseball a little bit. I mentioned at the start of the interview, you played pretty much everywhere for the Thunderbolts, and that's been true in the past as well.

You were primarily an outfielder last year with Tampa. You were a first baseman at Kansas. What position did you initially start to try to play? Let's say, going back to high school, was there any focus?

My freshman year of high school, I was a second baseman in shortstop, and at the high school level, your second baseman are usually the guys that don't really have that great arms, and my arm was pretty good for a freshman, so they wanted me to the outfield, and then just took off from there and pitched a little bit in high school and still in college, but yeah, middle infield. When did you end up starting at first base? That's a funny story, actually. My sophomore year of college, I was a centerfielder at Midland College, and then going to Kansas, they said, hey, we have a DH position that you can try and win a job for, and I said, all right, as long as I make the team, I don't care where I'm at, and about the third practice, they threw me a first baseman.

They said, can you play first? And I go, hit me a couple, we'll see, and then from there on, I was first baseman. Is that something that you recognized early on, that that versatility might be beneficial to you? Yeah, my parents always said that being able to do everything is good, being the jack of all traits, but at the same time, it can hurt you also if you're just average at every position instead of being exceptional at one, but I pride myself on my defense and trying to be exceptional at every place they put me.

Well, you certainly look like a natural anywhere you play, whether the Thunderbolts been first, third, or any of the three outfield positions. I don't know if you played much left field for the Thunderbolts, but clearly you had no real problem alternating between center and right, so you had that versatility, and of course you could hit as well, and coming out of high school, you ended up attending Midland College. As you said, you spent a couple of years playing baseball there. When you were, let's say, a high school senior, what was your thought process going forward?

Were you looking to play at a four-year school, or were you specifically interested in a junior college, or did you think at some point, maybe, I'm going to try something else in college and not play baseball? When did you know that you were going to be a baseball player and then decide to go to Midland? I think about my sophomore year of high school, because I started my freshman year of college at Texas Tech University, and my sophomore year of high school, they came on, they started recruiting me, and I didn't have a great sophomore year as far as hitting, and my high school coach wanted me to be a pitcher only, so my junior year I came out, and I was a pitcher only and did really well, and Texas Tech wanted me to be a pitcher, and I kind of got a little ticked off about it, because I've always wanted to hit, I love hitting, and so I spent all my time in the cage my junior summer, and I came out my senior year and did 468, and I said, you know what, I'll give this Texas Tech thing a try. Went to Texas Tech, wasn't mature enough mentally to handle everything, being away from home, and at the semester, I transferred to Midland College and played there.

You said going to Texas Tech, being away from home was maybe an issue for you, a difficult thing to transition to, but ultimately when you did transfer to a four-year school, you went to Kansas, which I'd imagine is further from home than Texas Tech was. How was that for you? At that time in my life, I never really had an issue being away from home, like settling down in another place, making new friends, doing that deal. Being in Kansas, it was kind of like turning over a new leaf in my life.

I didn't know anybody, and I just kind of just picked up the ball and ran with it, and had a blast. I love Kansas. I'm excited to be back in a couple weeks. It's interesting.

You spent the majority of your life in Texas, growing up there, attending high school, attending a couple years of college there, but since then, you've moved around quite a bit. You spent a few years in Kansas, and then with the Devil Rays, with the Rays, I should say, when they signed you, you were in the Appalachian League briefly, and then you went down to Florida in the Gulf Coast League, and now here you are in Chicago. So you've moved around quite a bit over the last few years. What's that been like for you?

Honestly, it's been the first. When I started, it was pretty miserable. I just was living out of a suitcase, and now that I'm in Chicago, I live in a house with Jared Kutnik, and it's great. I love Chicago.

I love being here, so it's fun. Is this as far north as you've been on a semi-regular basis? Yeah, West Virginia is probably the most north I've been. Yeah, Princeton, I've heard, is sometimes a difficult place to be out in West Virginia.

Yeah, it's not fun. I don't wish that upon anybody to go and spend their summer there. You were there for 25 games only last year, so you didn't spend a lot of time there, but you spent some time there. You spent some time in Florida as well, so vastly different types of places.

How was the Gulf Coast League for you? The Gulf Coast League was difficult, especially going from college. You're playing with guys that have a plan, that have been around the game, they're not a pitch guys, hitters know they're more experienced, and going to the Gulf Coast League was like going to high school, like a real elite level of high school baseball, but not high school, talent-wise, it's professional talent, but just as far as the knowledge of the game goes, I'd say, like high school, you're playing with 17, even 16-year-old kids. You went undrafted out of Kansas last year, but you ended up not having to wait too long to get signed by Tampa Bay.

Take us through that period in your life between the draft and the time you got that phone call. What was going through your head? I told myself I wouldn't have watched the draft, but obviously it didn't happen. I mean, every kid's dream is to hear their name called on draft day, but it was real stressful.

I had a lot of things in the pinnacle, if I don't get picked up, I'll just go on with my life. The fifth, after the draft, two days after the draft, I got picked up, I believe it was June 17th or so, and I got a call, and he said, it was Pat Murphy, and he said, how would you like to be a part of the Rays? And I said, I'd love to, when do I leave? Is there any team that would have called that you would have said, no, I don't think I'd like to be a part of them?

I would have gone to whoever. I think the Rays or anybody else, probably a pretty nice phone call. Yeah, I told Pat Murphy, the scout, that one of the signing, I said, hey, just give me a pair of cleats and I'll put them on and let's go. Well, there's a couple different directions I want to go from here, but let's start with this one.

You said that if you didn't get drafted, your first thought was, I'm just going to move on with my life. Well, what does that mean for you, exactly move on with you? Did you have another plan at that point? I really didn't.

The only reason I was telling myself that was to kind of keep myself at ease, I guess, and not freak out. Baseball's been such a big part of my life and will continue to be a big part of my life. When you're so close to life saying, hey, baseball's done for you, it's kind of hard to grasp, so it's real difficult. It was difficult.

Yeah, I've got to think that the draft is kind of a turning point in a lot of people's lives, not just their careers, but it really does separate where you are now from where you might be in a couple of years. And of course, you didn't get drafted, but you did get picked up, so you got to continue your career. One other thing you said a few minutes ago was, you thought if you didn't get drafted, you didn't want to play independent ball, and yet a year later, here you are playing independent ball, so what changed for you? You know, when I got released by Tampa Bay, it was one of those things, you know, when I started with Tampa Bay, I wasn't hitting the Gulf Coast League, and then my first month in Princeton, I was hitting like 343, and then fell off in like the last month.

I was playing like every third day, and I ended up hitting about 212, but right after I got released, I called one of my coaches from back home, Randy Velarde, and I said, hey, you know, what do you think about me continuing to play? And he said, do you still have a fire? What about the game? Is there still a passion for the game?

And I said, yeah. And he goes, well, I think you just answered your own question. So when Beaks called me, I said, you know, I'm ready to go, and I'm glad I got another opportunity. So what was your mentality approaching this season?

I know a lot of guys, they'll play independent ball, and they'll think to themselves, I don't want to be here, but I'm going to give it a try and see if I can move up. Is that what you're thinking coming in, that, yeah, this is a nice opportunity for you, but you want to move on to the next level as soon as possible, or did you approach this more from a standpoint of, I'm just going to try to make the most of the situation for whatever it gets me in the future? You know, when I first got here, I told myself I was going to make the most of the situation, and I was playing good. I was hitting well through spring training in, like, the first month, and then I started putting pressure on myself.

All right, well, you know, I can get out of here quick, and I think that's what led to me getting out of my, you know, approach at the plate, and, you know, when I started going into my funk, and some people say I'm still in that funk. But, you know, I guess just if I would have stayed with that approach that I had at the beginning, I think things would have been a lot better. So as we talk right now, we're getting through the 2016 season, getting close to the end. So as you look back on this year, and maybe we'll get more personal in a few minutes, let's start from the abstract view of just spending a year in the Frontier League.

You played, not a full season, but you played for a couple of different teams professionally last year, and now this is your first full season, start to finish, in professional baseball. What kinds of things have you learned about baseball in general, and how have you found the Frontier League as a league to play in and be around? Well, I mean, like, every time you walk on a field, you know, there's something to learn. The people that, you know, come out here and say they know it all is their line themselves and everybody else.

But I've learned a lot, you know, being around Beagues and Will and, you know, all these guys, especially Bassey and Thurber, Coco, all those guys. You know, the guys that have more pro ball experience, you know, just picking their brain. You know, so it's been good. And as far as the Frontier League, you know, there's a lot of good talent here.

On the back of your mind, you always think these players aren't, you know, what you are, and, you know, there's a lot of tremendous players out in the Frontier League, so that was good to see. Independent ball and affiliated ball are so different just because you're kind of segregated by experience level and by the amount of money that you're making or what round you were drafted in when you're in affiliated ball. Whereas here, there's such a wide range of people. You've got high draft picks, you've got low draft picks, you've got people who weren't drafted.

You've got 22-year-olds, you've got 26-, 27-year-olds, so there's such a great variety of people here. How have you found that to be different from when you were in the race system? I mean, yeah, I mean, the guys with experience, you know, you can obviously, you know, tell the vets from, you know, the rookies as far as, you know, knowledge and, like, situations, how they're doing situations and, you know, stuff like that. But honestly, it's not really that big of a difference, but probably maturity-wise, I'd say.

There's a big classification system in the Frontier League as well. You have Rookie 1, which is people who are fresh out of college. There's Rookie 2, which is where you classify right now, people who have a year or less of experience, and then you have experienced players who have two years or more. And like I said, you're Rookie 2, which is kind of an interesting place to be because you start the season as one of the younger guys, but as the season goes on, the draft passes, and you see a lot of younger kids coming in who either didn't get drafted or got released because of the draft.

And you really morph over the course of the season from being one of the younger guys at the beginning of the year to now where you're one of the more experienced guys on the team. Do you feel your role on the team changed at all during that? You know, not really. I try to, you know, be the same guy I am from day one to day to the last day.

So not really, though. I think my role is, you know, coming out here, having, you know, a good personality, keep being energetic and, you know, not dragging at the field, hustling, playing hard, and helping, you know, the younger rookies if they have questions, if I'm there to answer them. Let's step away from baseball for just a moment. Your first full season of professional baseball as we've been talking about.

What kinds of things have you done off the field? What kind of experiences or fond memories do you have of your first full season of pro ball? Enjoying, you know, the off days with the guys, going downtown. Me and Kiefer rode some, like, sport dog boat and did 360s.

We got soaking wet in our jeans and I had my boots on. We were furious. I think Kiefer had to go to the Cubs game in all his wet clothes. First of all, the sport dog boat, I have no idea what you're talking about.

It sounds awesome. I don't know. It's like an air dog extreme or something. I don't know.

It's this big boat and they go do 360s out on, you know, the lake and it was crazy. How do you end up in that position where you're in jeans and boots and you're out on the lake? You know, it was, we were hanging out, having dinner, and then stayed the night downtown and woke up and I didn't have any shorts or sandals and they were like, hey, let's get on this ride. All right, well, thinking I was just going to Cadillac around the lake.

Boy, was I wrong. We got soaked. Well, the fun, unexpected moments of summer, right? So kind of doing that a little bit is a little fun.

Well, how would you fare compared to your teammates in Pokemon? Not good. I don't think I'm as into it as some of these guys. Let's learn a little bit more about Blair Beck as a person.

So if I were to ask you, for example, some of your favorite movies, what kinds of things would you do? you like to throw out there? Oh, Joe Dirt, Happy Gilmore, Eight Seconds. It's probably one of my favorite movies with John Wayne.

I'm a big country movie guy. The Wood. You've got a pretty good list. Yeah, I've got a big movie guy.

It seems like you're a country music guy, too. I am. I like country music. I like rap music.

I like any music, really. As long as it's got a beat that I can dance to, I like it. As long as you don't have to take batting practice in silence, right? Yeah, exactly.

We talked about your favorite off-day hobbies here in the Chicago area. Well, when you're back home in Texas, what kinds of things do you do? What are some of your hobbies outside of baseball? Hunting, fishing, riding horses, stuff like that.

So you're an outdoorsman, essentially. Yeah, I like being outdoors a lot, being out in the country and it's peace and quiet and at the ranch, we don't have any cell phone service so I don't have to worry about my phone buzzing. Well, a lot of people would not say that they don't have to worry about it but they might be desperate if they weren't getting any cell phone service. Yeah, it amazes me.

My mother has her phone glued to her hand 24-7 and you can't even eat dinner anymore. I told her that I was going to put a roll when I had kids and all phones going to the table. You seem like you live the ideal off-season life. I live in Chicago during the off-season.

I don't get to do anything outdoors. Yeah, I was here a little bit last off-season and it was too cold to get out of here. It was probably too cold when you got here for the start of this season. Yeah, it was pretty chilly.

Some of these guys were wearing... The cold really doesn't bother me that much but I'd rather be looking at deer in a deer blind and riding horses and being out in the cold. So what's your plan for this off-season? Are you going back to Texas?

You mentioned a little bit ago that you're going to be in Kansas at some point. Yeah, I'm going to go back to Kansas a little bit. I'm going to help coach and my role there is just help some of those younger guys with the KU baseball team and then probably go home for a couple weeks and then back to training. Me and Alex Bregman will probably take two weeks vacation after that's all done and hit the grind as hard as we can.

So you're still kind of in that mode that maybe you got a little bit more used to by now doing a lot of traveling and spending various parts of the year in different parts of the country and that's something that you're a little more comfortable with now? I am. It got to the point where at first I was kind of nervous. I didn't know what I was going to...

I didn't really want to go see everything. I was being in one spot and now I want to go see everything. I want to meet new people and travel and do all that stuff. One thing I have to ask you about because I just noticed this today.

I looked you up online just to make sure I had my information correct on you so I got to ask you some questions today. And I saw your Twitter account. You have a verified Twitter account. I didn't realize you were such a dignitary playing here for the Thunderbolt.

How did you get verified? Oh, you know, that's a long story. I got lucky really. You know, being friends with Alex definitely has its perks.

But yeah, definitely my agency helped me out with it and now that I'm verified I got to start tweeting more. You just need to walk around with an air of importance and I think you're probably good there. Yeah, it definitely gave me a lot more swagger about my social media career. You mentioned Alex Bregman a few times and of course he's one of the hottest prospects in baseball right now.

How did you end up developing a relationship with him? When we were younger, I want to say we've known each other and it's felt like we've known each other since we were 12. But we first started playing when we were 17. I met him and really it was one of those things as soon as we met we just hit it off and kind of have the same personalities.

We push each other when we're with each other and he's a great guy to be around and the hardest worker I've ever seen. We talked about your off-season plans a little bit but obviously go beyond that now as we look forward to the 2017 baseball season and beyond. What are your plans? Are you at a point now?

We talked about it quite a bit earlier. There was a time where you didn't get drafted and you thought maybe your career was over. You got released by the Rays and you thought maybe your career was over. How long does baseball last for you?

Do you keep playing until that fire dies down or are you looking for moving on to the next step? And of course you still earn an opportunity where you're a young guy and you're improving as a player and you can keep moving up to the next level. So how do you look at that going forward? I'm going to keep playing until they tell me I can't.

Until every single person says hey we do not want you move on with your life. That's when I'll stop. And whether it happens in two years and five years, ten years, fifteen years when your playing career is over is that something that you've thought about at any point between the time you graduated college and you weren't sure what comes next to now do you have any other plans for post-baseball? You know I've had coaching offers.

I got a job offer from KU to coach baseball there. My junior college coach said that I can coach with him. And you know it's one of those things where once you're out of the game you have the people that don't ever want to they just want to forget about it because it's too hard to come back and then you have the other guys that are I want to help everybody I can at this game and show them what I've learned and you know teach them the things that I did wrong so that they can be good in their career and I haven't really decided which guy I'm going to be yet but I know that baseball will be a big part of my life whenever I'm done playing. Yeah that's something that's interesting a lot of people who play baseball ultimately at some point become coaches a lot of them don't as well but there are a lot of people and you seem like one of those guys and I to some extent I'm one of those guys as well.

You get a taste of baseball whether you're in it as a player or you're working in some other role within the organization where you don't really want to let baseball go so whether your career goes on or not you kind of have that opportunity while you're playing right now to keep analyzing everything that's going on which would make you a better coach later and it seems like you have put yourself in a position right now to have that good foundation going forward. Yeah you know I love coming out here and learning about the game like even you know there'll be situations with a pitcher and I'll you know ask Will or Bees hey why that right there why would you want to go that route why not this one and you know I hear all different types of it and you know it's good to hear even like hitting you know sometimes I've got to ask Vargas from Traverse City hey what's your approach you know what do you your first A-B do you have a plan your first A-B are you looking for how they pitch you and that's the way they're going to pitch you the rest of the game or you know how do you do that so it's good hearing all that stuff and it definitely helps. Alright Blair I'll get you out of here in a couple of minutes but let's talk a little bit more about yourself once again if there's anybody listening who really wants to get to know Blair back better as a person any fun facts about yourself anything you'd like people to know about you? I'm very outgoing anytime I'm with a group I'm usually the loudest heck anytime I'm with another just one person I'm probably the loudest but I don't know I think I'm a little bit louder than you right now I mean right now probably putting you on the spot yeah but you know I love people on an open book if anybody asks about me I tell them no matter what I don't have any problems you know telling about myself and you know not that I'm like conceited or anything like that but what you're saying is I didn't need to throw a headset on you to ask these questions I could just walk down to the field have this exact same interview with you off air and you'd be completely okay through BP ground balls we would have done the whole thing I could have a headset on while fielding that might be something interesting to try yeah I'd love that well Blair Beck I really appreciate you taking some time out of your day to talk with me and allow me and all of our listeners to get to know you a little bit better thank you congratulations on Broadcaster I really appreciate that I found out on Twitter my verification yeah your verified Twitter account all the important news comes straight to you well Blair thanks again good luck to you the rest of the season and good luck for both individual and team success I appreciate it