From the Collection: Seth Beer, of, Philadelphia Phillies
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Do you recall the hype surrounding Seth Beer during his college years? He was a big deal. His freshman season at Clemson was…bonkers. He ended his first season of college ball with a .369/.353/.700 line with 18 HR. He was the first freshman ever to be awarded the Dick Howser Trophy. There was talk about him being the #1 overall pick in the 2018 draft.
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Beer would eventually go 28th overall in the 2018 draft to the Houston Astros. In 2019, the Astros traded him, along with J.B. Bukauskas, Corbin Martin, and Joshua Rojas, to Arizona for Zack Greinke.
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Fast forward to 2025.
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Beer, now 28, opened the season in the Indy leagues with the Long Island Ducks. He hit well (.907 OPS). The Phillies signed him to a minor league contract, he hit .190 with the AA affiliate, and he was released this past July. There is a good chance his career is over.
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Oh, about the Long Island Ducks. That indy team had a fun roster of former MLB talent. Some other players that jumped out at me were…
–Infielder Mark Mathias (former CLE player and personal favorite)
–Pitcher Al Alburquerque (he’s 39!)
–Pitcher Tyler Beede (former CLE player and 1st round pick)
–Pitcher Zach Plesac (former CLE and has a neck tattoo)
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Back to Beer. All told, he got roughly 120 at-bats in the majors, all with the Diamondbacks, and hit .208.
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Probably the most memorable moment of his career came in 2022 when he hit a walk-off, three-run bomb on Opening Day for the Diamondbacks.
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Anyway, baseball is hard. Most prospects don’t pan out. So there you go.
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One last thing. I LOVE on-card Contenders autographs. They are one of the major inspirations behind why I use my own ticket customs. It’s a shame they stopped making these.