The story of signing Brandon Beachy as an undrafted free agent is one tale Braves area scout Gene Kerns has told over and over but doesn't mind telling again. He discovered Beachy on July 20, 2008, at the Virginia Valley League, a collegiate summer league. Two years later, Beachy was pitching against the Phillies in the heat of a pennant race.
Q: Do you regularly check out that league?
A: I always try to go to the Valley League and see as many teams as I can. I was sitting one night in Woodstock -- they use the high school field – and nothing happened for eight innings and in comes Brandon. I tell everybody he woke me up.
Q: What was it about him?
A: He's 6-3, about 210, 215, with great arm action, easy delivery. Wow, after a pitch or two warming up, I put the gun on him and 90, 91, 92, a couple 93s (mph). I said, "Hey." He went through the ninth inning, bah, bah, bah, nothing to it.
Q: You talked to him after the game?
A: I introduced myself, asked him if he'd ever been drafted. Had he been drafted, I couldn't have talked with him. He said no. Well, he didn't say, "No." He said, "No, sir." That tells you what kind of young man he is. ... I said "Do you have an interest in professional baseball?" He said, "I certainly do, sir." So I called the scouting director. This is 11 o'clock at night now.
Q: What did you tell him?
A: I said to Roy Clark, our scouting director at that time, "I have a young man here I've just seen that I'd like to sign." He went through, "Well, I'd have to check and see whether we have any openings." I said, "I don't care if we have any openings or not. We need to sign this kid." To make a long story short, he hesitated. I said "Let me ask the coach if he'll throw him an inning tomorrow night in Staunton and I'll go see him again. Then I'll report back to you."
Q: So what did you see the next night?
A: Ninth inning, in comes Brandon and he was even better. I called the scouting director. This is after midnight now. I said, "We've got to sign this kid." He relented and said yes.
Q: Then did you get to see Beachy pitch in the minors?
A: My wife and I went down just to check on the Danville club. He hadn't pitched in seven or eight days, but he comes in in the ninth inning. Boom, boom, boom, he strikes out the side. I'll never forget Kurt Kemp, our farm director, turned around and stuck his thumb up and told me, "Yeah."
Q: Did you hear from Clark (now with the Nationals) when Beachy started against the Phillies?
A: He left me a voicemail saying congratulations.
