Danny Beddes won’t throw any curveballs about the season
Right-handed pitcher Danny Beddes is starting his senior season with the UVU baseball team and hopes to lead the Wolverines to a Western Athletic Conference title. Beddes has shown steady improvement over his first three seasons at UVU and is set for a big year in his final season. To finish his career strong, Beddes knows which areas he needs to improve his game.
“I’m just trying to get settled in early,” Beddes said. “Sometimes I try to overthrow; I try to do too much in the early part of the season. So just know my limits and try to help the team on doing personal things.”
Beddes is a hard-throwing, fastball pitcher that likes to strike batters out. Over his three-year career at UVU, Beddes has struck out 128 batters, including 67 his junior season.
“Strikeouts are my favorite for sure,” Beddes said. “I like showing my dominance; I like to show who’s ahead of who.”
Coming out of high school, Beddes was recruited by other universities, but chose UVU because of its proximity to home, what the coaches had to offer him as a player, and the quality of the program.
“I mean, it’s always a positive when they’re winning 37 games in a row,” said Beddes. “But it’s close, it’s easy for the family to get here and be able to watch, and it’s just a good situation. BYU was good too, but I just felt like I would fit in more here than I would at BYU. I liked the coaches here, they were more honest with me, they told me what I was capable of doing, and what they wanted of me. So they were more honest and up front.”
As a senior, Beddes will be leading the Wolverines in a year they are pushing for a conference title. Head Coach Eric Madsen has high hopes that Beddes will be the one to lead UVU when it’s his turn to toe the rubber.
“He’s a very talented kid,” said Madsen. “I think his desire, and our desire, for him is to be more consistent and know every Friday we have a chance because if he’s coming out of the shoot as the best guy… [he’s] going against somebody else’s best guy. So that’s a real key game of a weekend series is that first one with how well we pitch, and we think he can do it.”
Beddes wants to see his team win the WAC and play in the Regional Tournament in his final season, and the Wolverines will be leaning on the experience of the team to get them there.
“I think winning the WAC is the main goal, is a possible goal for sure,” said Beddes. “We’ve got a lot of guys coming back so I think we have a chance. We have a lot of experience. And we’ve all been to the tournament and I, personally, think we have what it takes if we come out and play to our abilities.”
