Beal Taking Fast Track to Stardom

Andy Beal was on the verge of pitching the United States to the gold medal at the World Youth Baseball Championships in Veracruz, Mexico, last August, so he consulted with teammates in the dugout on how to celebrate.

“I was going to do the Ben Sheets thing, where he drops to his knees and raises his hands,” Beal said. “And I did.”

After the final out, Beal gave his championship pose, then was engulfed by delirious 15- and 16-year-old teammates. He turned in a pitching performance to cherish, striking out 14 and allowing five hits in a 6-2 victory over Venezuela.

His fastball was clocked as high as 93 mph. It was reminiscent of Sheets, who pitched the United States to a 4-0 upset of Cuba in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

But unlike Sheets, who became a starting pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers the next season, Beal isn’t quite ready for the major leagues.

He’s a 16-year-old sophomore right-hander at Palos Verdes Peninsula High. Last month, he got his driver’s license. Next month, he’ll try to prove that his dominating summer form was no fluke.

“I have a lot more confidence,” Beal said. “Now I know I can compete against the best.”

Beal is 5 feet 11 and 190 pounds, with an engaging smile and deceiving grit. He’ll look you in the eye, act friendly and polite, but put him in a competition, whether it’s baseball or PlayStation 2, and he’ll settle for nothing but success.

“I like showing up people who think they’re going to win and try to get in your head,” he said. “I like showing them they can’t get in my head.”

Coach Roger Carroll of Peninsula learned last season that Beal was no ordinary freshman.

In the season opener, Beal struck out all six batters in two innings of relief. He earned the team’s No. 1 starting role, going 7-3 with a 1.76 earned-run average and 77 strikeouts in 472/3 innings. He threw a shutout in the Panthers’ Division I playoff opener against Long Beach Wilson.

“I think it’s kind of intimidating for a lot of hitters because he throws the ball harder than 98% of the pitchers around, so the ball gets on you in a hurry, and he has control,” Carroll said. “He’s very cool on the mound. I think players like Andy come along once in a career.”

Beal’s freshman season ended with a test of adversity. He discovered in a 13-3 playoff loss to Upland that he’s hittable. Suddenly, he was a lonely 15-year-old standing on the mound searching for answers.

“I tried to throw it by the hitters,” he said. “They were a good team. I learned everyone has their off days. I felt pretty bad, more because it was the last game for the seniors, and I felt I had let them down.”

The seniors, however, didn’t blame him.

“Hey, man, it’s OK. You tried. Get me tickets when you’re in the pros,” a senior pitcher told Beal.

Beal didn’t dwell on the loss. He wasn’t always so mature.

“In Little League, I used to go crazy when we lost,” he said. “I’d get so mad. Now it’s just a game. You win the next one.”

He went to Houston last summer to try out for the U.S. youth national team. He made the team and found himself on the mound in the gold-medal game before several thousand vocal fans in Veracruz.

“It was real intense,” he said. “If you throw one ball, they’ll boo you. If you walk someone, they’ll start yelling stuff. But if you strike out someone, they’ll love you.”

Beal was just trying to keep his team in the game. Instead, he lasted all nine innings with a pitching performance teammates won’t soon forget.

“He threw awesome,” said infielder Chris Valaika, a junior at Newhall Hart who assisted on the game’s final out.

“It was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been in a game where someone who’s so young went that strong for nine innings. He was in a league of his own.”

Beal throws his fastball consistently between 89 and 91 mph. He also has command of a curveball and changeup.

“He’s probably the best pitcher I’ve ever played against,” said Chatsworth sophomore Jason Dominguez, a club teammate of Beal. “He’s so fluid. He’s what I want to be. When I first met him, he was a fastball pitcher. Now he’s an all-around pitcher instead of a thrower. He’s as humble as you can be.”

You’ll never hear Beal bragging about himself, except when he beats friends in PlayStation 2.

He has the same baseball dreams of anyone his age--to play in the major leagues. “It would be sweet,” he said. “All my family and friends would want tickets.”

That’s the least of his concerns. He has teenage priorities, such as convincing his father to let him drive around the neighborhood in his car.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at [email protected].