Indians Top 50: #25 Beau Mills

Beau Mills - First Baseman
Born: 08/15/1986 - Height: 6'3" - Weight: 220 - Bats: Left - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	Avg	OBP	SLG	OPS
2007	20	Mahoning Vy	A-	8	28	5	5	2	0	0	1	3	7	0	.179	.303	.250	.553
2007	20	Lake County	A	44	177	32	48	12	1	5	36	14	38	0	.271	.333	.435	.768
2007	20	Kinston	A+	10	40	7	11	6	0	1	5	4	8	0	.275	.375	.500	.875
2008	21	Kinston	A+	125	482	78	141	34	3	21	90	54	105	2	.293	.373	.506	.879
2009	22	Akron	AA	134	516	59	138	33	1	14	83	31	95	1	.267	.308	.417	.725
		Totals		321	1243	181	343	87	5	41	215	106	253	3	.276	.340	.453	.793

History: Mills was drafted by the Indians in the 1st round of the 2007 Draft out of Lewis-Clark State (ID).  As a freshman at Fresno State, Mills hit 22 HR which was a school record for a freshman, and he also ranked 8th in the nation that year in home runs.  He played two years at Fresno State, but due to academic reasons the team suspended him, so he transferred to Lewis-Clark State.  He was named the Carolina League MVP in 2008. Last year at Double-A Akron he finished 5^th in the Eastern League in games played (135), 4^th in at bats (516), 9^th in hits (138), 4^th in doubles (33), and 7^th in RBI (83).

Strengths & Opportunities:  Mills is an incredible offensive talent who has an electric bat with excellent power and strength.  He is a free-swinger, but has shown very good hitting skills and hits the ball with authority by using a nice line drive stroke where he gets good loft to hit balls a long way and punish mistakes.  He covers the plate well, and hits the ball well to all fields, and is good at making adjustments at the plate.  When he is able to get good extension, he crushes balls.  He has a good major league body and size for a corner infield position.  He is not a fast runner or very athletic, but he is smart on the basepaths and makes good decisions.  The Indians really feel like his intelligence, makeup, presence, demeanor, and level of intensity are all off the charts.  He has done a very good job of easing into the professional environment, and when you look at him and the way he carries himself on the field his build and body language absolutely scream baseball player, which is likely from him being a part of the game since his childhood because of his dad Brad Mills' involvement in the game.  The way he gets along and interacts with staff members and players is remarkable, and he plays the game at a great speed with a great intensity level like Grady Sizemore and is tough mentally and physically.

Drafted as a third baseman, the Indians moved Mills to first base full time shortly after his professional debut.  He showed good agility and footwork at third base and the general feeling was he could become an average defender there, but he was hindered by a bad shoulder which was the result of an impingement in his arm that caused inflammation in his shoulder and hurt his throwing.  He had surgery to correct the issue, and after initially going into the 2008 season with the idea of having him split time at first and third base, a few games into the season he experienced some issues with the strength of his throwing shoulder so the decision was made to move him to first base full time. Since moving to first base full time he has made good strides and quickly become comfortable at the position.  He has made a smooth transition to first base, and is considered a solid defender there with good hands, shows good agility and footwork around the bag, and displays solid range.

Mills' flashes above average power and the above average ability to hit, but it is all about getting more consistent with it and the Indians believe it has everything to do with him swinging at better pitches.  His problems as a hitter last year centered around him being a little too aggressive at the plate and at times he was clearly pressing.  Earlier in the season last year he was looking to have more power numbers so got into a little bit of a pull mode, but toward the end of the season he got back to his strength of using the whole field again.  Late in the season he seemed to settle in more as his numbers started to become more consistent, partly because he got much quieter in his approach at the plate though he still has a tendency to move his feet a little too much when he hits.  He was also slow in making some subtle adjustments to the way pitchers learned how to attack him.  He likes to extend his arms when he swings which makes him susceptible to being tied up with inside pitches, so needs to learn to shorten up some so he can better handle those inside pitches.   Defensively, he still needs more work with his footwork, both moving around the bag and in his fielding mechanics.  He also needs to get better reads and jumps on balls.

Outlook: For a typical player the numbers Mills had last year at Double-A Akron were solid, but Mills is not a typical player as he is a former first round draft pick and Top 10 prospect in the system, so a lot more was expected of him last year.  The fact the Indians sent him out to the Advanced Instructional League last fall to get more work even after such a long year in Akron showed the Indians disappointment in him last year.  The Indians currently have a lot of options at first base in the upper levels with Matt LaPorta, Jordan Brown, and potentially Nick Weglarz if they want to move him back there at some point, so Mills is going to have to show some consistent thunder with his bat to get a major league opportunity at some point.  He should open the 2010 season with a return trip to Akron as the everyday first baseman, though could spend a majority of the season in Triple-A Columbus depending on roster decisions in Cleveland and Columbus throughout the year.

Photo courtesy of Tony Lastoria

Beau Mills MinorLeagueBaseball.com page

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