Brandon Beachy Signs With Atlantic League’s New Britain Bees

The New Britain Bees of the independent Atlantic League announced today that they’ve signed right-hander Brandon Beachy.

It’ll be the first professional action for Beachy since he tossed one lone inning with the Dodgers’ Rookie-level affiliate in 2016. Once a rising star with the Braves earlier this decade, Beachy’s promising career was derailed by a pair of Tommy John surgeries. While Beachy has been out of the news almost entirely for more than two years — the last time he was even mentioned on MLBTR came back in 2016 when the Dodgers outrighted him off the 40-man roster — it appears as though he’ll work the indy circuit late in the season in an effort to generate some interest in a minor league deal this winter (or perhaps a late look in September).

Beachy, perhaps surprisingly, is still just 31 years of age, though he’ll turn 32 early next month. It’s been more than a half decade since he looked like a long-term cog for the Braves’ rotation, but he was certainly impressive in his brief peak. From 2010-13, Beachy totaled 267 2/3 innings of 3.23 ERA ball for Atlanta, averaging 9.2 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 along the way. A return to the big leagues would seem like a long shot at this juncture, though there have certainly been more improbable success stories in recent years (e.g. Rich Hill, Jonny Venters).

With the Bees, Beachy will step onto the roster in place of 39-year-old Andy Van Hekken, who pitched for the Tigers back in 2002 and spent several seasons in Triple-A before carving out a successful six-year career with the Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization. Van Hekken is headed to Taiwan’s Uni-President Lions, per Mike Ashmore of MyCentralJersey.com (Twitter link).