Muhlenberg, Luis Beato, ready to take game to the next level
Brad Coley can laugh about it now but the Muhlenberg lefty wasn’t so amused the first time new teammate Luis Beato stepped into the batter’s box against him and squared one up.
The pitcher was taken aback; he calls Beato’s power “jaw-dropping.”
“You don’t see many guys who can (swing like) that,” said Coley. “It’s a little shocking.”
The 6-3, 200-pound Beato moved into the Muhlenberg district last year from Boca Chica, a scenic beach town on the southern coast of the Dominican Republic. He played baseball there — everyone does, of course — but it wasn’t until he arrived in Laureldale and became part of an established program that things started to fall into place for him.
He’s always loved the game; he took pride following countrymen David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in the big leagues, and remembers seeing them play in Winter Ball as a kid. But he was just a fan. He didn’t see a baseball future for himself.
He attended William Allen as a freshman and sophomore and played on the baseball team, but not much. It wasn’t until he returned home to the Dominican in 2020 that the light went on.
“I wasn’t that serious about baseball (growing up),” he said. “Then, I went back to the Dominican (for a year) and that’s when I started taking baseball seriously. I started loving it right away. I used to go the fields every day, watching the kids play and I said, ‘I want to be like that.’ “
He was an unknown commodity when he joined the Muhls last season, but that quickly changed.
“(He shows up) and just starts hitting balls off the fence,” said Muhls second baseman Jacob Rodriguez. “It’s crazy.”
Beato homered in 2-0 win over Gettysburg in a District 3 Class 5A opener, then drove in three runs in 13-3 win over Manheim Central that clinched a spot in the state tournament. He finished the season with a .291 batting average, a team-leading 25 runs scored, 13 extra-base hits, 16 RBIs, 12 stolen bases and all-division honors.
Following the high school season he sparked Berks/Lancaster to an 8-7 Carpenter Cup victory over Philadelphia Public League with a game-tying, two-run homer in the ninth inning.
“When you look at him, he checks every single box,” said Muhls coach Brian Kopetsky. “He runs under 6.7 in the 60. . . he throws over 95 mph from the outfield. . . he’s got all kinds of power. . . He’s just a big, strong athletic kid.”
Beato is expected to be the centerpiece of a strong Muhlenberg team that is favored to win Division II of the Berks Baseball League and challenge Wilson, Gov. Mifflin and others for the league championship.
He’s part of a large group of players back from a team that went a modest 14-11 last season but showed promise late in the season with a trip to the Berks semifinals, a pair of district playoff victories and its first PIAA Tournament appearance since 2008.
There are big holes to fill: Kopetsky must replace his No. 1 pitcher, Alex Krick, and his catcher, Kyle Miller, a backbone of last year’s team.
Coley, who was injured and threw just 12 innings as a junior, is expected to step into the No. 1 spot in the rotation and lead a deep staff that will include all-division pick Sean Levan, lefty Drew Fidler and others.
“He’s throwing it pretty impressively right now,” Kopetsky said of Coley. “If he steps up and does what he’s capable of doing and the guys fill in behind, pitching-wise we’ll be fine.”
“There’s competition everywhere (on the staff),” said Coley. “We’ve got a bunch of guys with good stuff.”
Seven starters return, including Levan, a senior who also plays shortstop; Rodriguez, who didn’t commit an error in 57 chances at second base as a junior; and Beato, a senior and the center fielder.
Kopetsky is encouraged by what he saw in the offseason; he said his guys really went after it in the weight room.
The roster is constructed of mostly baseball-first guys, so not many played winter sports.
“The chemistry’s definitely there,” said Coley. “Everybody’s kind of molded together. We’ve been working together since the end of last season. We lost a couple key guys but we’ve got new guys coming in that are pretty good, and there’s still a lot of competition (within the team), which will make us better in the long run.”
“Everything’s clicking,” Rodriguez said of the way the team has bonded.
Beato is hoping take a step up himself. He want to become more disciplined at the plate and show the major league scouts who show up — Kopetsky said that more that a dozen teams are interested in taking a look at him — that he’s got what it takes.
“I didn’t have that mentality (last year) that I have right now,” said Beato. “It was my first year that I played on a high school team like this, with a really good program and coaching. This (year), it’s a good opportunity to show them that I can play at the Major League level and last there a long time. I have to prove I can be there.”
“There are days when he absolutely changes games,” said Kopetsky. “He has that ability at any moment; he has all the skill sets. He doesn’t have the polish (yet). He’s a work in progress, (but) he’s learning quickly. He’s learned so much in a year.”