Recorded on April 24. The audio version is available on Episode 173 of our podcast
H-TEN: Ladies and gentlemen, we are super excited because we have got another member of the Hanshin Tigers with us today on H-TEN, Hanshin Tigers English News. You know him as Beas. He’s number 99, he’s in the bullpen, and he’s getting things done for us. Jeremy Beasley, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us today.
JB: Well, thank you for having me, man.
First Encounters with Baseball
H-TEN: Appreciate you coming. So, how did you first get into baseball?
JB: Oh, that’s a good question. I started playing baseball when I was four. My brother and my sister were playing and I wanted to be just like them. And my dad loved the sport, the 1995 Braves. That was the year I was born. He loved the Braves, the big three, you know, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine. So of course, I wanted to be just like my dad. I want to be just like my brother and my sister. So I just followed suit, played every sport I possibly could: football, baseball, basketball, and I wrestled, too. I really enjoyed the camaraderie of just being around other people and enjoyed being competitive. It worked out in the end. My dad worked really hard when I was a kid and I just wanted to be just like him. So he was a big driving factor into me playing baseball and every sport, honestly.
H-TEN: You mentioned a few names and a team already, but for yourself, who are the guys that you watched growing up?
JB: I love the Fightin’ Phils, when they went back-to-back. Roy Halladay was probably my favorite pitcher. You know, the guy just picked people apart. Of course, we don’t have similar styles. I’m more of an aggressive guy myself. But he just kind of like just picked everybody apart. I see a lot of guys here that do the same thing that Roy Halladay did. It’s just… corner, corner, corner. Stuff like that was great to me. But I also grew up watching John Rocker pitch for the Braves. The guy was just an animal on the mound. So I wanted to be the same way. So honestly, those two guys, I would say John Rocker and Roy Halladay.
H-TEN: You mentioned pitchers here and you talked about your own pitching style. Were you ever a position player?
JB: Yes, crazy enough, I was defensive player of the year at first base in my senior year in high school. I was a career .300 hitter in high school, but I was terrible, terrible at hitting for power. I barely hit it into the outfield. I was the biggest guy on the field and I could barely hit the ball.
H-TEN: So when did you give up on hitting, then?
JB: Well, I didn’t get a ton of recruiting out of high school to go to college. I had a few small Division 2 schools but my only real opportunity was to go to a junior college. Then my body caught up and I gained like 20 or 30 pounds within a year or two. My velocity just kept climbing, and then in my second year of college, I got recruited by Clemson. And from there, my velocity just kept climbing each year. I think in my junior year, I was up to 95, and the Angels took a flyer on me in the 30th round, and I just took it and ran with it. Honestly, I got some of God’s luck in my first full season. A starter got hurt in low-A, and they said, “Hey man, you want to start?” And the rest is history because I went from low-A to double-A in a year. So, honestly, this whole professional baseball thing has been really lucky for me, like God intended me to be here. That’s the way it feels. You know, like God intended me to follow this path, and I just found my way to the big leagues, crazy enough.
H-TEN: That’s pretty awesome. And now you find yourself on arguably the most popular team in all of Japan.
JB: When my agent called me and told me about this, he was like, “Hey man, I just want you to know, this is the best team in Japan to play for.” And I was like, “Sign me up. I’m ready to go.” And he was like, “Oh, I thought there was going to be a little bit more pushback.” I said, “Nah, I love everything about the game.” I love when other people love the game, too. And the fans here do. You might find some fans in the US that are as passionate as the Tigers fans are… but it’s really hard to find them. These fans are very passionate, and it makes us want to play for them. I want to play for all the fans because everybody’s so engaged, man. It’s so refreshing to see as a baseball player.
H-TEN: I can only experience the engagement from the stands with the rest of the fans. What’s it like when you’re standing on the mound and all around you the singing and chanting is in stereo?
JB: When I was pitching in, say, Toronto, I was always really, really nervous. I always felt like there was pressure on me that I could not take off. Then here, initially, in the first game, I was like, oh, there’s that pressure again. But then as the outing went on – it wasn’t a great outing, I threw like 29 pitches – I realized, the fans are actually behind me. I’m not hearing any boos. I’m not hearing any “What is this guy doing out here?” kind of thing. Everybody was behind me, and I was like, I can do this. Especially coming off an injury. I was nervous and didn’t want to re-injure myself. But I had this confidence, because everybody in the whole stadium, we’re talking about 45,000 people, was behind me the whole time. And honestly, man, I can’t describe it. It’s a very refreshing part of the game and I’m happy to be on the mound playing for his team. I can’t describe it.
H-TEN: Just a side note, as an English teacher in Japan, I feel the same way. I don’t know if you remember your teachers, but it tends to be “us against them” in a North American classroom, where the students are like, “How can we get under his skin,” you know? “What can we get away with here?” It’s not like that here. They’re on your side, and you’re on their side, and it’s just harmony. So I can kind of relate to that, obviously in a different profession.
JB: Yeah, I feel like where I’m from, it’s all competition at all times. I’m competing against you, you’re competing against me. Who’s the better student? Whereas here It’s like, how can we band together and figure this out? How can we put this team together and win a championship? How can I help the guy beside me? In the States, yes, you do the same thing, but you’re still competing against the guy beside you. Especially in baseball. If you’re in the minor leagues, you’re still competing against the guys on your own team. Like, he wants to be the closer but so do I. You got to beat that guy out somehow, right? But here, it’s like, me and Suguru (Iwazaki) are sitting beside each other and we’re not competing. We’re trying to figure out how to beat these guys (the other team) today. KK (Kyle Keller) will be sitting there and he’ll ask me, “How are we gonna face this guy? How are we gonna get him out?” Or, let’s just say Suguru has a better curveball or better slider than I do. I’m gonna pick Suguru’s brain because he wants me to succeed, too. You can’t describe how great these guys are as teammates. I can only say this so many times, but it’s extremely refreshing to be around these guys.
H-TEN: That is so good to hear. I’m really happy to hear that. Next, I wanna go through your pitching arsenal. Can you take us through what kind of different pitches you throw and what you like about it them? Without giving up too much of your strategy, obviously!
JB: You know, I’m a straight four-seam guy. I like to call it my bullet ball. I just like to be as aggressive as possible and see how far these guys can hit it. I went through a span in 2021 after I hurt my shoulder in my debut, and I couldn’t figure out how to throw strikes. I don’t know why, but I went from being a good starter who knew how to throw strikes, to a reliever who didn’t know how to throw strikes. But for me, my fastball is the equalizer. I am not afraid of giving up hits and I’m not afraid of giving up home runs. That’s part of the game. The thing I’m not OK with is walking guys. That’s the one thing I hate more than anything. So when it comes to my fastball, I just think bullet ball. I want these guys to swing as hard as they can. That’s how I pitch. I’m gonna be as aggressive as I can and put them away early. And that brings me to my splitter, which I’ve been throwing since I was 15 or 16. It was the pitch that got me to the big leagues. But also, when I was in the minor leagues, I developed a slider. It has different movement… you probably saw the big slider I used to strike (Shogo) Akiyama out. That’s actually a new slider. I had a slider coming in, but then I just lost it. I don’t know where… but I had to develop a new slider. Crazily enough, I developed it the night before I made my first big league outing in 2022, and I think I got like eight whiffs in two innings. But I also gave up a home run to Byron Buxton on it! But I whiffed him on it the next game. So the slider is more of a “steal a strike” pitch because it’s so big. People don’t realize this because when you see it on TV, you’re like, “Oh, that’s a big pitch because it moves so much,” but the thing is, the hitters can see that. It’s so different, especially off my fastball and my splitter. Like, the fastball and the splitter come in the same, so the slider is obviously different. And that’s why I felt I had to develop the small cutter. I can throw it anywhere from 85 to 90 (mph), so it looks like my fastball coming in, and then it just takes off. Even though it doesn’t look like a good pitch, it’s different enough from my fastball and splitter, which I throw more often than anything. So I would say my slider is like the equalizer to my whole arsenal. Like on an 0-0 count, I can throw the slider as slow or fast as I want to, and guys are just gonna take it. Because they’re looking for either 95 (fastball) or a splitter that’s coming in anywhere between 85 and 90. This has all been developed because of how I use my pitches. I want guys to step into the box and be as uncomfortable as possible because they have to look for 4 pitches from a guy that’s probably only going to throw one inning. And I’m going to throw everything in the strike zone because I’m all about pitching aggressively.
H-TEN: Let’s go back to your time in America. I look at some of the minor and major league rosters you were on, and I see a lot of names familiar to NPB fans: Yusei Kikuchi (ex-Lions), Tyler Beede (Giants), Dillon Peters (Swallows), Yoshi Tsutsugo (ex-Baystars), Foster Griffin (Giants), Gosuke Katoh (Fighters), Rafael Dolis (ex-Tigers), Gregory Polanco (Marines), Jacob Waguespack (Buffaloes). Did you actually play with these guys or was it happenstance that you were on the same roster in the same year?
JB: I never played with Yoshi, but I know Beede – we have the same agent. But we never really talked about Japan together. I played with Peters on two teams: the Pirates and the Angels. He’s a great guy and a phenomenal pitcher. I played with Wags in Toronto. Crazy enough, he lives here (Rokko Island, same complex) and we see each other all the time. You can’t beat that guy. He’s a great teammate and an even better pitcher. I played with Dolis a lot too. He was one of my favorite teammates, man. He was a lot of fun. Gosuke is another great guy. He’s actually the one who made me fall in love with Japanese cleats. I wanted a pair so badly, he had ASICS, and he had his name stitched into it in Japanese. The one issue is that my foot is too big, so I can’t get cleats here! Playing in Japan was never a thought for me during the season last year, though. Kikuchi is another great guy. He’s a better teammate than he is a player. He works really hard, man. You can just tell that he is one of those guys who has things figured out. Sure, he struggled last season but he’s putting it all together this year. The dude was always looking for the next step to make himself better.
H-TEN: As you might know, Dolis played with the Hanshin Tigers for several years. Did you ever hear any stories about this time in Japan?
JB: Not really. Dolis didn’t speak the greatest English, and he didn’t really talk too much about it. Actually, I was there in 2021 and his first year back in the States was 2020, so he probably told all the great stories in 2020, while I was still with the Diamondbacks. So he never really talked about the Tigers, but I know that he was a legend here.
First Impressions of Japan
H-TEN: Yeah, he had a great run for four seasons with the Tigers. So can you tell us again what appealed to you about the opportunity to come play in Japan for Hanshin?
JB: It was my agent, and I trust him wholeheartedly. He basically told me, “This team cares about its players. We have a great opportunity here because that’s a great team. And they basically said that they want to meet you.” That’s a great thing to hear. Because when you’re in the States on a minor league team, you’re just another guy, right? There are 500 more guys that can do the same job, and you feel that way… whereas here, you feel like a priority. I mean, I’m in the back of the bullpen right now cause I’m still trying to prove to the manager that I’m a good pitcher. But I still feel very important when I’m in the bullpen. I’m still trying to build those blocks to get an opportunity to be in winning situations. So yeah, my agent really sold me on it, and when I got a phone call from the team, I was like, yeah! I was very open to it. One of the things that I have always wanted to do is explore baseball all around the world. You can’t describe how amazing it is here. Whenever I tell people back home how amazing is here, it’s really hard to describe.
H-TEN: You came to Japan at the end of January. Now that you’ve been here a few months, can you recall your first impressions when you landed in Japan?
JB: It’s clean! I live in Los Angeles in the off-season, and I would describe Osaka as a clean version of LA. People also mind their own business here, man. It’s so nice that people don’t bug you even though they might want to bug you… but they keep to themselves. It seems to me like the country takes care of itself. It doesn’t need anybody to run it for them. Even the kids walk outside by themselves – you can’t do that in the States! People are so willing to take care of others and help each other – it’s a very citizen-driven country if that makes sense.
H-TEN: The police have the most boring jobs ever!
JB: Yeah! The other day, I saw a drunk dude in the train station passed out on the ground and then the police went up to him and said, “Are you OK?” And they tried to help him to a chair. I’ve never seen anything like that before!
H-TEN: You’ve talked a little bit already about how enamored you are with Hanshin. Do you remember your first impression of Hanshin and Koshien Stadium?
JB: Well, it was a little cold when we got here, so we didn’t actually have any grass at the time. I just remember thinking, it’s massive, absolutely massive. I don’t think people realize how big that field is. And for me as a pitcher, thank God! You hear war stories of pitching at Jingu, so thank God I get to pitch at Koshien 80 times a year! When we are on the field, it’s breathtaking because there are so many seats. I felt the same way in the States when I walked into Yankee Stadium. You just look up and everything looks painted, like a portrait, because it’s so big. It’s just breathtaking and you have to just take it in for a second. That’s kind of what me and BK (Brian Keller) did. And everybody was very welcoming, even the media. They can be hard on you sometimes, but yet they want you to succeed. I feel like the team itself really wants the most out of us and it’s really nice.
H-TEN: You were down in Okinawa for a month and I know Jeff Williams and Jerry Sands came and visited spring training to help out the new foreigners. What was it like having them there to teach you the ABCs about playing for Hanshin?
JB: Well, one thing Jeff really helped me out with was getting accustomed to the culture. The way the guys handle things in the States, you have your bullpens planned, you have your live BPs planned… whereas initially here, I learned that I needed to do a better job of planning my bullpens because Okada wanted to see us pitch. So I had to plan to get on the mound as much as possible to prove that I wanted it. That was hard to learn initially because Jeff wasn’t there, but when he arrived, he came to us and told me, “Do your best. Do the running, do the core, do everything as much as you can, because you have to win this job.” It’s not given to you. Even as a foreigner, things are not given to us. So I took that and ran with it. I talked to KK a lot about it and basically just learned the ropes of how things are run here. It’s totally different than the States. They pay attention to what you are doing and that keeps you honest and keeps you on top of things. So being around Jeff was a big help. It was totally different from what I was used to. But then I strained my hamstring – it was a freak accident. My back leg went that way when I was pitching and my front leg went the other way, and my hamstring just gave up. It might have been the third pitch of that game, but I just tried to get through the inning and figured things out after. I had to adjust to the mounds here. They’re totally different, the dirt is different. I couldn’t even field ground balls! I used to be the defensive player of the year at first base, and now I have to relearn how to field grounders, man! It was like learning how to play baseball again.
H-TEN: Which of your teammates would you say you have had the most interactions with so far?
JB: Of course, KK. Me and him are right beside each other every day. Being around Suguru a lot is very helpful. He’s a great guy and he is a veteran on the team, so I am just trying to learn from these guys. I spent most of my time in the minor leagues trying to rehab my hamstring. There are a lot of great guys down there, too. I would say Masashi (Itoh) is another great guy. Hopefully, he will be back soon. I play catch with Tomida every day, and he is another great guy. As I said, the bullpen is just a bunch of great guys. Kajiya, too. The whole bullpen talks together every day. There is not one who is not part of the other. We are just one big unit down there.
H-TEN: So you got called up after recovering from the injury. How have you enjoyed your time on the top squad so far?
JB: It’s been great, man. We’re winning. We’re a great team, and we will get to our full potential soon. I have a great feeling. We show it for a few games, and then sometimes we don’t. But we’re going to start winning a lot of ball games soon. We’re a really talented team.
Lightning Round
H-TEN: What’s your favorite food or meal?
JB: Crazy enough, there’s a ramen place back home that is so good.
H-TEN: How about a Japanese food that you want to try that you haven’t been able to try yet?
JB: That’s hard because we have had a lot of Japanese food. I’ve tried just about everything.
H-TEN: Do you have a dream car?
JB: No, I ordered a GMC Sierra this past off-season. I’d always wanted one, it’s got a nice lift on it. I’ve never been a sports car kind of guy.
H-TEN: What is your favorite vacation spot?
JB: Actually, I went there and got married there. Maui.
H-TEN: What do you want to see most of anything in Japan?
JB: I wish I could go to more temples. I want to see more of them. I want to see the castles, too. I haven’t had enough time to go yet, though.
H-TEN: What is your favorite sport outside of baseball (to play or to watch)?
JB: Great question. I would say basketball or football.
H-TEN: Do you still play either, or are you more of a spectator now?
JB: Since I tore my ligament last year, I wasn’t able to play any basketball, so… I kind of just stick with baseball these days.
H-TEN: What is the biggest success you’ve had as a baseball player?
JB: I would say playing in front of my family in the big leagues for the first time. Because of Covid, I didn’t have that opportunity right away, you know?
H-TEN: Where was that?
JB: Because of Covid, with Toronto, we had to play in Dunedin (Florida) at our spring training complex. So that’s where we played most of our home games.
H-TEN: What is the biggest success you’ve had off the field?
JB: That’s an even bigger question. I don’t think it’s happened yet because I think it will be having my son (due in August).
H-TEN: What is the most interesting experience you’ve ever had with a fan?
JB: I’m not quite sure. I haven’t had any crazy, weird stories with fans yet. I haven’t done anything like some guys who have signed babies and stuff. I mean, I have signed some weird stuff like phones, but nothing really crazy yet.
H-TEN: Maybe that’s also yet to come, so maybe next time we talk, you can tell us that story. Last question for you. Who is the best Japanese baseball player of all time in your estimation?
JB: I would have to say as a pitcher, Tanaka, and as a player, Ichiro because he has 4,200+ hits combined in two different leagues.
H-TEN: I can dig both of those answers for sure. Thanks, Jeremy, for joining us today and being so candid, and giving us some great answers. Wishing you the best, and looking forward to seeing you at the ballpark sometime! Thanks for your time today.
JB: You’re welcome.