CARNDUFF — A handful of ‘Saskatchewan’s boys of summer’ have made it to the major leagues. Perhaps the most notable was Terry Puhl from Melville, who played from 1977 to 1991, primarily with the Houston Astros. Others include Andrew Albers from North Battleford (he pitched in a game for the Toronto Blue Jays) and Dustin Molleken from Regina, who had a brief stint with the Detroit Tigers.
To date, no one from Southeastern Saskatchewan has officially worn a major league jersey.
It is Carter Beck’s dream to change that and his dream is still very much alive.
Beck is from Carnduff and graduated in 2023. He attended University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., on a partial baseball scholarship. U of M is an NCAA Division II school that plays in the NSIC conference. Beck intended to play for the U of M Marauders for two years and, if all went well, spend his final two years at an NCAA Division I school.
A month into the school year, Beck suffered a serious injury. During an exhibition game, a slide into third base went wrong. He broke three metatarsal bones (in his foot) and separated his tibia and fibula, bones in the lower part of the leg. Thankfully, the regular season wasn’t to begin until the following spring and the day before spring training began, the medical team cleared him to play.
He had an excellent season playing left field and centre field. His batting average was .349, he hit 12 home runs and knocked in 53 runs. His on-base percentage was an impressive .426, meaning that close to half of his plate appearances resulted in him reaching base.
His play earned him a selection to the Second Team All-Conference team and he was voted as freshman of the year.
His achievements in that first year got him thinking that he could move to a Division I school a year sooner than planned. Professional scouts pay more attention to the athletes of Division I than Division II. He entered what is called a transfer portal. He was contacted by three schools – Purdue, Illinois and Indiana State.
Beck chose Indiana State University (ISU). Their baseball program and the scholarship they offered were the best fit for him.
Playing centre field for the ISU Sycamores in the Missouri Valley Conference, Beck’s statistics were much the same as his first year with the Marauders. He batted .335, hit 11 home runs and drove home 56 base runners. His on-base percentage was .418.
This earned him a first-team all-conference selection.
Over this summer, he has been working out to keep himself in shape and playing ball with the Saskatoon Berries in the Western Canadian Baseball League. He continues to excel, batting .368, hitting eight homers and 37 runs batted in.
That leg injury from his first year hasn’t affected the number of bases that he steals. So far this summer, he has stolen nine, which is consistent with his university swipes.
This fall, Beck will begin his third year of university, the second with ISU. He is looking forward to the upcoming season, which will begin next spring with a tournament in Puerto Rico. It will also be his first ‘draft year’, when the top collegiate players across the country are selected by Major League Teams. Beck believes that if he can repeat his successes of the past two years, he has an excellent chance of being drafted by a major league baseball team.
Beck could very well be another Saskatchewan ballplayer to make it to the big leagues…and the first to come out of our corner of the province.
