Beau Mills
From BR Bullpen
Beau Bradley Mills
- Bats Left, Throws Right
- Height 6' 3", Weight 220 lb.
- School Fresno State University and Lewis-Clark State College
- High School Golden West High School
- Born August 15, 1986 in Visalia, CA
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[edit] Family
Beau Mills is the son of the Boston Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills and Ronda Mills who is a region manager for Medical Billing Technology. Brad played in the majors with the Montréal Expos. Beau has two sisters, Taylor and Rochelle.
[edit] High School Career
Mills attended Golden West High School in his hometown of Visalia, CA. While there, he was a three year letter winner as a third baseman and shortstop for the Trail Blazers.
As a sophomore in 2002, Mills was his team's Rookie of the Year and was named the third baseman on the All-West Yosemite League team.
In his junior year, Beau was the team captain as well as its offensive MVP. He also repeated as the all-league third baseman.
As a senior in 2004, Mills was named a high school All-American and the Varsity Player of the Year as he led his team to the league title. Following the end of the season, Beau was drafted in the 44th round of the 2004 amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox. He declined, and decided to attend Fresno State in the fall.
[edit] Collegiate Career
Prior to starting his freshman year at Fresno State, Mills played with the Salina Valley Packers of the California Collegiate League in the summer of 2004. In the July 30 game, Mills was beaned in the head which precipitated a bench clearing brawl.
With Fresno State in 2005, Mills led the Western Athletic Conference in home runs (22), slugging percentage (.699), and RBI (63), as well as multiple RBI games. He led his team in runs (54), doubles (12), triples (2), and home runs while playing in every game on his team's schedule. He was named the WAC Player of the Week on March 21. Among the season ending honors, Mills was named a Freshman All-American, an All-Western Region ABCA Honoree, a First-Team All-WAC third baseman, and the WAC Freshman of the Year. Following the season, Beau was one of 36 players nationally to be invited to the Team USA Tryouts.
In 2006, Mills hit .355 with 58 RBI, 20 doubles, and 14 home runs. He led his team in hits, doubles, and RBI, and tied for the lead in home runs. His athletic accomplishments were overshadowed by his academic shortcomings though.
On May 24, Fresno State suspended Mills for the final two games of the regular season, as well as all post season and tournament games for academic reasons. During an interview for USA Today in the summer of 2007, Mills claimed that he was "glad he went through" the experience. It forced him to "grow up a little" after taking the academic side of college for granted and "coasting for two years, just trying to get by." In a 2008 interview with the Kinston Free Press, Mills expressed that he was punished too harshly for "missing some classes" and felt that he was being made an example of as a lesson to other players. In his words, the severity of the punishment "really hurt". His father, Brad, was quoted as saying "It wasn't a good fit at Fresno State". As a result of this suspension, Beau decided to transfer to another school.
During the summer of 2006, Mills played for the Alaska Goldpanners (Fairbanks) of the Alaska Baseball League. After a productive summer, he was named to the all-league team as a designated hitter. Baseball America named him the top prospect in the circuit.
For 2007, Mills transfered to Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho at the suggestion of Keith Foulke. He was also familiar with the manager, Ed Cheff, from his time with the Goldpanners. While with Lewis-Clark, Beau established a new National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) single season home run mark with 38 (post season included). His regular season numbers included 33 HRs, 113 RBI, 91 runs, 222 total bases, and a 1.000 slugging percentage. In the final game of the Avista NAIA World Series, Mills hit three home runs and had eight RBI to lead his team to a 9-2 victory over Spring Arbor University. Just prior to the game, Beau was named NAIA Player of the Year. Following the game he was awarded tournament MVP honors. He was named to the NAIA All-America Team as a third baseman.
At some time during the 2007 season, Mills injured his right shoulder. It was not serious enough for Beau to require surgery or for him even to miss much playing time, but it would affect decisions made about him at the start of his professional career.
Mills majored in Criminal Justice at Lewis-Clark.
[edit] Minor League Career
Mills was picked in the first round (13th overall) of the 2007 amateur draft by the Cleveland Indians. He was able to experience the draft with his family in a luxury box at McAfee Coliseum prior to a Red Sox-A's game his dad was coaching in. Beau signed quickly and earned a $1.575 million signing bonus.
He reported to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and got into eight games before being called up to the Lake County Captains. Beau played 44 games in the South Atlantic League where he hit .271/.333/.435 with 5 HRs, 36 RBI, and 12 doubles (.321 against southpaws). Mills made it to High-A at Kinston before the end of the season where he played in ten games as well as three postseason games.
The KTribe never made it out of the first round against the Salem Avalanche. Although he did not get any hits in the playoffs, Mills still had a .333 OBP and one run thanks to walks. The decisive third game of the series was tied at 3-3 in the eighth inning, when Mills, playing third, made an errant throw while trying to field an infield single off the bat of Tim Torres which allowed Mitch Einertson to score the go ahead run. The Avs added another run for insurance, and Kinston was unable to mount a comeback in the ninth.
The Indians invited Mills to the big league camp during spring training in 2008. While with the big leaguers, Mills hit .200 with 2 home runs in 14 Grapefruit League games.
Mills was assigned to Kinston again for 2008. At the halfway point in the season, Mills was leading his team in games played, at bats, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, and strikeouts. He has played 48 games at first, 8 at third, and 11 as the designated hitter.
Mills has spent most of his minor league career, so far, at first base mainly due to his lingering shoulder injury from his college days. He has stated that third is where his heart is, and Cleveland would prefer him to be at that position. They hope that once Beau's shoulder is fully rehabilitated, he will be able to resume the hot corner.
[edit] Sources and Further Reading
- Boogaard, Andy: "Winning Attitude: Golden West Baseball Player Beau Mills, His Dad Adapt To Being Apart", in The Fresno Bee, March 26, 2004. [1]
- Browne, Ian: "Father's Day Comes Early For Mills: Red Sox Coach Able To Share In His Son's Draft Day Moment", in MLB.com, June 15, 2007.[2]
- Crow, Chuck: "Tribe's Mills Is Born To Baseball", in The Plain Dealer, March 7, 2008. Blog posting of article
- Hall, David: "The Baseball Player", in Kinston Free Press, April 6, 2008. [3]
- Paulling, Daniel: "Mills: Big-Time Prospect At Small School", in USA Today, June 3, 2007.[4]
