Dallas Beeler

In his debut for the Chicago Cubs, right-handed pitcher Dallas Beeler checked off more “career goal” boxes than some other pitchers manage in their entire major-league careers. As the starting pitcher in the first game of a doubleheader against the Washington Nationals, Beeler tallied six strikeouts, picked off a player, and singled his first at-bat – a trifecta that prompted Cubs announcer Pat Hughes to bellow, “Dallas Beeler, you’re my hero!”1

That first game as a major-league player, being in the bullpen and on the field with players he’d previously only seen in televised games, is etched in Beeler’s memory. As is his first time stepping up to the plate. “When I was on deck, I just kept thinking, ‘Man, I’m not going to let a pitch go by. I’m swinging first pitch,’” he recalled. “I just put bat on ball like we’re taught to do in BP. … It’s another moment you’ll have for your lifetime.”2

That game, that day, June 28, 2014, also shines as the highlight of Beeler’s time pitching professionally, which included seven seasons with the Cubs organization. From July of 2010 through his release in March of 2017, Beeler appeared as a starting pitcher for the Cubs five times in two seasons (2014 and 2015). In 19⅓ innings and 92 major-league batters faced, he tallied 13 strikeouts and 14 walks to finish with a major-league career ERA of 6.05.

“The question for Dallas Beeler has always been when, not if,” sportswriter Tommy Birch wrote in a 2015 article.3 As demonstrated time and time again over decades on the mound, including 10 years playing at the professional level, when the 6-foot-5, 225-pound fastball-hurling Beeler was on, he was on! Over eight seasons pitching in the minors, primarily as a starting pitcher, Beeler tallied 368 strikeouts and 156 walks in 559 innings pitched, and a minor-league career ERA of 3.88.

Dallas James Beeler was born on June 12, 1989, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was raised in Jenks, a suburb of Tulsa, surrounded by family on all sides. His father, Darrell, one of three children, likewise grew up in Jenks. Beeler’s mother, Susan, also one of three siblings, grew up in Tulsa. On his mother’s side, Beeler is part Choctaw and Chickasaw and his family, especially his grandmother and aunts, is active in the tribe and community.

In the Beeler household, the question was never whether to play sports, it was which sport to play. Theirs is an athletic family. Susan, a retired schoolteacher, ran track at Hale High School, and in college, at Arkansas and Northeastern State University. Darrell, a Tulsa firefighter, played baseball for Jenks High School (the same school Dallas and his siblings attended) and college ball before making a name for himself in competitive slow-pitch softball. Dallas’s older brother, Chase, a star football player went to Stanford and then the NFL as a practice squad player. And their younger sister Lacy, excelled at volleyball and soccer.

Beeler can’t remember a time when he didn’t play baseball. Among his earliest memories is a photo of himself at about 2 years old, posing with a bat. He started with T-ball, then Coach Pitch, Little League, and on. Those early baseball years were truly a family affair. Darrell helped coach both Dallas and Chase’s teams. And when he wasn’t coaching, he was playing. Darrell is a USSSA hall of famer with a career batting average of .715.4 Dallas Beeler said watching the highly competitive athletes in action during his father’s slow-pitch softball games taught him about teamwork and the game.

Following in their father’s footsteps, Dallas and his siblings attended Jenks High School, where he and his older brother Chase excelled at baseball and football. By his sophomore year, however, Dallas – then 6-feet-5 and 200 pounds, long and lean – realized that his football future was limited. “I wasn’t fast enough, couldn’t jump high enough, I wasn’t quite big enough,” he said.5 But that didn’t stop him giving it his all. As a starting wide receiver, Beeler helped the Jenks Trojans bring home a pair of state football championships.

Beeler hyperfocused on baseball and his hard work paid off. During his senior season, he posted a 4-1 record and a 1.09 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 38⅔ innings pitched and batted .385 with 4 home runs and 17 stolen bases. Beeler earned All-Conference, All-Metro, and All-State honors with the Jenks Trojans. It was no surprise that he caught the attention of Toronto Blue Jays area scout Ty Nichols. Beeler was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 37th round of the June 2008 amateur draft. “I was tempted [to sign],” Beeler said. “As a high schooler it’s hard to turn down a chance to play baseball – get paid for it?” In the end, after lengthy family discussions, Beeler turned down the offer in favor of going to college. “I had a good feeling that getting some more playing time against better competition would benefit me.”

In the fall of 2008, Beeler began his freshman year at Seminole State College in Seminole, Oklahoma, a Division 1 junior college “known for turning out good ballplayers.”6 Support offered by the Chickasaw Nation was a key factor in Beeler’s opting for college at that point. The tribe helped defray Beeler’s tuition, books, clothing, and housing costs. In addition, he participated in the work-study program. And he played ball. Beeler called playing ball at Seminole “a game changer.” He credited the Seminole coaching staff, especially Mark Allen, for helping hone his competitive edge or, as he put it “find that killer instinct” pitchers need. The Seminole Trojans Find it he did. But three-quarters of the way through the season, he injured his elbow. Facing surgery on his right elbow, after finishing out his freshman year at Seminole, he returned home to Jenks.

That summer Beeler underwent Tommy John ligament replacement surgery. Wanting to continue his education and eagerly anticipating his return to baseball, he enrolled at nearby Oral Roberts University, where he majored in business administration. “This is where support from the Chickasaw really helped with tuition, books, even clothing and living expenses,” Beeler said. As part of ORU’s work-study program, he also served as the locker room “clubbie,” and put in the work needed to rehabilitate his elbow.

Beeler recovered faster than expected and as is often the case after Tommy John surgery, came back stronger. Under the tutelage of ORU coach Rob Walton, Beeler matured as a pitcher. Walton, Beeler said, “taught me the importance of throwing a fastball for a strike and about pitch sequencing. How pitching is actually a chess game. It’s not just throwing pitches out there; it’s attacking a batter with a plan.” Walton’s coaching style included having players study and emulate successful pitchers’ style. Beeler, Walton observed, had a similar body type, arm slot, and pitch arsenal as Hall of Famer Roy Halladay, who “blended a blistering sinking fastball with pinpoint control.”7 Beeler studied film of Halladay in action and mirrored his technique. Additionally, Walton worked with Beeler to develop new pitches.

By the end of the 2010 season, Beeler proved himself to be one of the team’s standout players, going 2-0 in two starts and earning two saves.8 Scout Ty Nichols once again put out the word. Beeler was picked up by the Cubs in the 41st round of the 2010 draft.

That summer, Beeler played college ball in South Carolina with the Florence Flamingos for whom, he recalled, “I pitched some of the best games I ever had.” That’s when the call from the Cubs organization came. “It was decision time,” Beeler recalled. “Do I stay in college or sign? … It happens fast. One day you’re a college kid, two days later you report to spring training.”

After signing, Beeler headed to Mesa, Arizona, to play Rookie ball with the Arizona Cubs. At 21, with two years of college under his belt, in comparison to the 16- and 17-year-old high-schoolers, he was one of the older guys, which, in terms of maturity, may have been to his advantage. Rookie ball was super-competitive. “I remember telling myself to enjoy it,” Beeler said of the experience, “because I had prepared for this.” Shortly after his arrival, Beeler got the first strikeout of his professional career. As is the way in rookie ball. he only pitched the one inning against maybe four batters, still, “That strikeout felt good.” So did moving up to the Boise Hawks, the Cubs’ short-season team, a month later. And a week after that, moving up again to the Peoria Chiefs of the Class-A Midwest League.

Beeler started the 2011 season with Peoria and was quickly promoted to Tennessee (Knoxville) of the Double-A Southern League. In his Double-A debut, on June 7, 2011, “throwing what he estimated to be 90-95 percent two-seam fastballs, the 21-year-old right-hander struck out four without walking a batter” to lead the Smokies to a 6-0 victory over the Jackson Generals.9

He stayed with the Smokies the rest of that season, all of 2012, and the first part of the 2013 season. Beeler recalled those early years fondly. “Some of your best friends and best memories are made in the minor leagues,” he said. “Because everyone is going through the grind together, whether it’s the bus rides, whether it’s long travel, whether it’s the locker rooms that are worse than any small-town high school you’ve been to or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches five times a day … that’s where bonds are made.” Among the bonds Beeler forged in the minors were those with fellow pitchers Kyle Hendricks and Eric Jokisch, with whom he shared similar pitch arsenals and approach to the game.

Having quickly worked his way up in the minor-league system, January of 2013, Beeler was selected to take part in the Cubs’ inaugural Rookie Development Program, a “joint venture between the Major League Baseball Players Association and the commissioner’s office.10 Beeler found that participating in the program “gives you a glimpse of what goes into being in the big leagues, how to manage your days and the season. Mostly it made me feel like I was ready for the next level.” But toward the end of the season, a sprained finger on Beeler’s right hand kept him in the Smokies dugout for the rest of 2013.

Beeler was assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. He made six starts and went 4-1 with a 2.49 ERA, a performance that earned him a promotion to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. Baseball America ranked him the number-24 prospect in the Cubs organization, noting, “He can touch 94 mph with the fastball and has a slurvy slider as his main breaking ball, working to get early contact with both pitches. He uses both forkball-type of splitter that he can use in the strike zone and a more conventional split-finger pitch that he tries to bury out of the zone.”11

That November Beeler was added to the Cubs’ 40-man roster. “I think he’s a kid that everybody’s looking forward to having an opportunity to come out here and show what he can do,” Cubs manager Rich Renteria said. “We’re glad to have him.”12

At the start of 2014 spring training, the 24-year-old, commenting on the sprained finger that had curtailed the previous season, said, “It happened, I got over it, I worked hard, and now I’m here and now I’m just trying to stay healthy and pitch well.”13

Beeler observed that at every step of his baseball career, coaches guided him to the next level. With the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, two coaches were instrumental in his getting a shot at the majors. Bruce “Pap” Walton, had been the bullpen coach for the Blue Jays when Beeler’s role model, Roy Halladay, played for Toronto. “To be able to pick Pap’s brain on what made Halladay successful, his work ethic, pitch grips, pitch sequencing, what he was trying to accomplish and how, was fantastic.” And pitching coordinator David Johnson taught Beeler the pitch that got him his shot.

“It was a cutter,” Beeler said. “Honestly, I think that pitch is what got me to the big leagues. Two-seam is good, but it’s great to have a pitch that goes the opposite direction at basically the same speed.” For Beeler, a groundball pitcher, adding the cutter to his arsenal was a huge advantage, because groundball pitchers try to get early swings and early contact so they can pitch longer into the game and save bullpen arms. “I could pepper the same spot,” Beeler explained. “If I was facing a lefty, I could throw a fastball in the outside corner and I could make it run away from the guy, make it run back on the plate, or I could freeze them. I could go through a whole at bat and throw the same pitch.”

On Sunday, June 8, 2014, in a game against Colorado Springs, Beeler pitched seven shutout innings, during which gave up five hits, struck out five and walked two to lead the Iowa Cubs to a 3-0 win. It was, sportswriter Tommy Birch noted, his “fourth consecutive quality start and fifth of the season.”14 Birch wasn’t the only one who noticed. A few weeks later, Beeler was at Wrigley Field making his major-league debut with the Chicago Cubs.

When asked to name one best memory of his time in the pros, Beeler didn’t hesitate. “My debut, definitely.” Called up for a spot start in the June 28 doubleheader at Wrigley Field, he recalled running out to center field prior to the start of the game. “Everyone’s cheering for you, they don’t know who you are, but they’re still rooting for you.” He was especially impressed with how knowledgeable the fans were. While he was warming up in the outfield before the game, the fans – who had most likely never even seen him play – called out stats about him and the other players they themselves didn’t even know. “Then, of course, running out for the first inning, picking up the ball, standing on the mound and taking everything in. That was one of the bigger moments of my career … and my hit.” Beeler’s first time batting in a big-league game, he swung at the first pitch Gio González threw and singled. His debut performance didn’t go unnoticed by Cubs management. In a postgame interview, Rich Renteria told reporters, “Beel showed really good stuff today. He’s a Cubbie now.”15

That was the first of two starts with the Cubs in 2014. He made 20 starts for Iowa, where he went 9-6 with a 3.40 ERA.16 But by the end of the season Beeler was plagued with shoulder issues. In a postseason newspaper interview, Beeler described the 2014 season in one word: “Maturing.” He added that he was “trying to pick up little things that I can improve mentally and physically on the mound.”17

In 2015 Beeler missed all of spring training after suffering biceps tendinitis with a shoulder impingement. He went to extended spring training before rejoining the Iowa Cubs on a rehab assignment. Rebounding wasn’t easy. He struggled to find the strike zone. “I had about five starts in those 30 days and I never pitched more than three innings in one game,” Beeler said of that frustrating time. “And in all those five starts I didn’t give up less than seven runs. I was so low after one game I remember sitting in the batting cages with the lights off thinking, ‘What am I doing? I need to quit. I need to retire.’” 

Again, coaching, this time from Cubs mental skills coach Josh Lifrak, helped turn things around. Lifrak told Beeler he was trying too hard. “Go out there and clear your mind,” Beeler recalled Lifrak telling him. “You can only worry about what you do when the ball comes out of your hand. You can’t control much after that.” His next outing, Beeler took Lifrak’s advice. “I tried not to throw so hard, but to relax into it.”

What followed was, in Beeler’s words, “The start of the best three months of my career.” He was feeling good, pitching well, and it didn’t go unnoticed. July 7 found him back in Wrigley Field for another spot start in the second game of a day-night doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals. In five innings, he struck out six, walked two, and allowed four hits and two runs. That was the first of three major-league starts. Beeler finished 2015 with an ERA of 4.07, enough to once again earn a spot on the Cubs’ 40-player 2016 roster, assigned to Iowa, his third stint with the club.

Beeler said he felt especially fortunate to have been part of the Cubs organization when, as he put it, it was all coming together.

Although lingering injuries kept Beeler on the disabled list for much of the 2016 season (after 21 starts for Iowa in 2015, he managed only eight in 2016), being part of the Cubs, “with its history and incredible fans,” when they won the 2016 World Series was indescribable. He said his World Series ring, emblazoned with 108 round diamonds to commemorate the 108 years between World Series championships, is one of his prized possessions, still in the lighted case in which it was delivered.

Released by the Cubs on March 30, 2017, Beeler signed with the Kansas City T-Bones of the independent American Association. However, because of persistent shoulder issues, he soon doubted the wisdom of his decision. Rather than cause further damage, he opted to sit out the 2017 season and focus instead on healing. The decision proved to be a good one. The next season, 2018, he signed with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League. Beeler quickly proved himself a valuable addition to the team. In his June 3 start against the York Revolution, Beeler struck out 10 batters, to set a single-game high for a Skeeters pitcher that season. Five days later, in a home game against the Lancaster Barnstormers, he pitched eight no-hit innings.18  After going 5-0 with a 1.61 ERA in June, Beeler was named the Atlantic League’s Pitcher of the Month.

His pitching performance didn’t go unnoticed. On July 9, 2018, the Kansas City Royals purchased Beeler’s contract from the Skeeters. He was sent to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals of the Double-A in the Texas League. Beeler struggled, losing two starts. On July 23 he was released by the Royals and re-signed by the Skeeters.

Beeler helped the Skeeters win the division and league titles in 2018, and in 2019 he helped them win a division title again. Beeler spent both the 2018 and 2019 offseasons in the Mexican Pacific Winter League playing for the Tomateros de Culiacan, which he thoroughly enjoyed and would have returned to but for the Covid pandemic.

Careerwise, the Covid shutdown came at the worst possible time for Beeler. In January of 2020 he signed with the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association as a player-coach. The Covid shutdown in March put an end to that plan as the Saltdogs were not one of the teams selected to compete in the condensed 2020 season. That, as it turned out, was the end of his professional pitching career. “Guys that are done playing always talk about how a ballplayer never knows what the last pitch will be,” said Beeler. “Mine was a friggin’ curveball I threw in Sugar Land to get me out of an inning.”

With his playing days over, Beeler and his wife, Bayle, whom he’s met in Des Moines while playing with the Iowa Cubs, settled in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa, not far from where he grew up. As of 2025, Bayle worked in educational tech and the couple have two sons, Stellan and Graeme. Unlike many big-leaguers who stay in the game in some capacity, Beeler pivoted. His interest in business coupled with his own familiarity with sports-related injuries led to a job with RX Medical, providing technical support and guidance to health-care providers for patients with spinal injuries.

Beeler thought he’d put baseball – except as a fan – behind him. A call from his former high-school coach, Jeff Owens, in 2021 changed that. Owens had been offered a coaching position at Cassia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa and Beeler’s father, Darrell, was going as assistant coach. Did Dallas want to join them as pitching coach? After the possibility of becoming a player-coach for the Lincoln Saltdogs fell through, Beeler hadn’t given coaching another thought. Now, perhaps because a few years had passed since he’d been a player, he became part of a coaching team with his father and Owens, two coaches who had been instrumental in his success as a ballplayer. Coaching seemed like the right next step.

Beeler said he enjoyed being on the coaching side of the game. “It’s addicting,” he said. “I learned more about pitching from coaching than I ever did as a player.” Well aware of the impact knowledgeable, patient coaches had on his career, Beeler is grateful to have a chance to give back. “What seems like common knowledge to a 30-year-old is brand new to kids and can make all the difference to their game.” After three years at Cassia Hall (2012-2013),???? That’s two years Beeler, along with his father and Coach Owens, moved with head coach Dean Wilson to Bixby High School.

The motto that was written all over the Cubs’ facilities during his time with the organization, “It’s not if it happens, it’s when it happens” also became Beeler’s personal motto. He credits that “if not when” attitude with his being able to rebound from setbacks throughout his career. Now that he was coaching, he tried to foster that same supportive attitude among his players. “Teams ebb and flow. No matter how good a team you are, every season there are low points. And especially during those low points there can be friction in the dugout, issues with personalities, frayed nerves, and the like. I try to teach my players you’ve got to have each other’s backs, be each other’s best friends and at the same time toughest competitors, and also to understand we are all trying to be our best.”

In 2024 Beeler said that if his sons chose to play baseball (and he couldn’t help hoping they did) he would do just as his father did by assisting with their teams. In the meantime, he intended to continue coaching, with a goal of helping young pitchers achieve their goals the way coaches and many others at every step of his career supported him. “I’m blessed to have the career I’ve had – five or six starts in the big leagues,” said Beeler. “I battled with injuries here and there but I was fortunate to play and do I all got to do.”

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, baseball-almanac.com, and MLB.com.

Photo credit

Dallas Beeler, courtesy of the Chicago Cubs.

Notes

1 YouTube highlights from Beeler’s major-league debut on June 28, 2014: “WSH@CHC: Beeler Allows No Earned Runs in MLB Debut,” YouTube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyXpPJrRYwY, accessed September 25, 2024.

2 Jacob Unruh, “Q&A: Iowa Cubs’ Dallas Beeler Talks Major League Debut, Keeping Up with Jenks,” the Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), July 6, 2014. https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/columns/2014/07/06/qa-iowa-cubs-dallas-beeler-talks-major-league-debut-keeping-up-with-jenks/60813609007/.

3 Tommy Birch, “Dallas Beeler Battles Through Rehab Start for I-Cubs,” Des Moines Register, May 11, 2015. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/iowa-cubs/2015/05/11/dallas-beeler-iowa-chicago-cubs-colorado-springs-sky-sox-pcl/27144547/.

4 USSSA was the United States Slowpitch Softball Association. It has since been renamed: The United States Specialty Sports Association.

5 Author interview with Dallas Beeler on September 5, 2024. Unless otherwise indicated, all direct quotations from Beeler come from either this interview or in interviews on September 26 and 27, 2024.

6 Beeler interview.

7 https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/halladay-roy.

8 “Oral Roberts Golden Eagles – 2011 Baseball, 18 – Dallas Beeler,”

9 David Heck, “Beeler Tosses Gem in Double-A Debut,” June 8, 2011, https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-20191636.

10 “Rookie Career Development,” mlbpplayers.com. https://www.mlbplayers.com/rookie-career-development#:~:text=The%20RCDP%20is%20joint%20venture,leagues%20in%20the%20upcoming%20season.

11 Baseballamerica.com, https://www.baseballamerica.com/players/671871-dallas-beeler/.

12 Bruce Miles. “Cubs Add 2 Players to Roster,” Arlington Heights (Illinois) Daily Herald, November 20, 2013. https://www.dailyherald.com/20131120/pro-sports/cubs-add-2-players-to-roster/.

13 Tommy Birch, “Dallas Beeler Shines Again for Iowa Cubs in Strong Start,” Des Moines Register, June 8, 2014.

  https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/iowa-cubs/2014/06/08/dallas-beeler-iowa-cubs-chicago-cubs-baseball-america/10204471/.

14 “Dallas Beeler Shines Again for Iowa Cubs in Strong Start.”

15 Bruce Miles, “Cubs Come Away with 7-2 Win on Strange Day at Wrigley,” Arlington Heights Daily Herald, June 29, 2014.

https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20170725/cubs-come-away-with-7-2-win-on-strange-day-at-wrigley/

16 Dallas Beeler stats, https://www.mlb.com/player/dallas-beeler-542923.

17 “Jokisch, Beeler Hoping to Pitch at Some Point,” Arlington Heights Daily Herald, February 28, 2015.  

18 Carrie Muskat, “Cubs Make Adjustments to 40-Man Roster,” MLB.com, November 7, 2016. https://www.mlb.com/news/cubs-add-rosario-mullee-to-40-man-roster-c208325178.