Getty

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 10: Seth Beer #28 of the Arizona Diamondbacks practices his stance during batting practice before the game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on September 10, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Seth Beer was not a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks for very long, and his overall body of work at the Major League level is not flattering. But in his short time, he made himself a cult hero.

A left-handed slugger with a build that looked more a beer league softballer, and of course armed with the surname Beer, Seth would complete the trifecta when he hit a walk-off home run on Opening Day in the 2022 season. He drove in three runs off Craig Stammen of the San Diego Padres for the first walk-off homer of his career, the same Mariners team against whom he had he had become the 129th player in baseball history to homer in his first majors plate appearance six months earlier. In doing so, Beer would become the first rookie in baseball history to hit a walk-off blast with his team trailing on Opening Day –  and for synergy, the game was played on “National Beer Day”. Because of course it was.

Now Beer is in Mexico – and he is still absolutely destroying baseballs.

Two Home Runs To Remember

Beer entered this week leading the Mexican League in OPS. Playing for the Olmecas de Tabasco, the slugger probably known locally as Seth Cerveza has hit for a .383 average over 34 games, with 19 walks compared to only 17 strikeouts, including 12 doubles and 9 home runs amongst his 44 hits. In total, his .490 on-base percentage and .722 slugging percentage make for a 1.212 OPS – or, as they call it at the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol website, a 1.212 PAHO.

If Beer had to go to Mexico to truly break out, he at least is realizing the potential he was seen to have back in his college dats. In his freshman season at Clemson, Beer looked like a future star almost immediately – he won the Dick Howser Trophy as a freshman in 2016 with his combination of plate discipline and left-handed power, becoming the first first-year player ever to win college baseball’s equivalent of the Heisman, after a season in which he posted a 1.235 PAHO. Scouts loved the bat and the results enough that the Houston Astros took him in the first round of the 2018 draft with the 28th overall pick, even without knowing whether he had a true defensive position.

In 2019, the Astros shipped Beer to Arizona as a part of the Zack Greinke deal, where big things were expected. Partly because prospects are always more exciting than current players, such is the allure of the unknown, and partly because “Seth Beer” is exactly the sort of name baseball supporters adopt as their own within five minutes. Seth Beer is a term of endearment for one of your dad’s friends. But your dad’s friends are not hitting Opening Day walk-offs.

Never Stuck With The Diamondbacks

Unfortunately, that early highlight was also the peak of Beer’s MLB career. That Beer Day blast proved to be his last home run in the Majors.

Major-league pitching eventually found the holes in his swing. Beer could still punish mistakes, but good velocity gave him trouble, and teams increasingly attacked him upstairs with fastballs. He bounced between Triple-A and the majors with the Diamondbacks, but hit for only a .521 PAHO in 38 games in 2022, finishing his MLB career with a .208 batting average, two home runs and 12 RBIs across 51 games.

After Arizona designated him for assignment in May 2023 and outright him to the Minors, Beer started drifting through the baseball wilderness. He departed the Diamondbacks that December after the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft, but he would spend 2024 in independent baseball, and although Beer signed briefly with the Philadelphia Phillies‘ organization for the 2025 season, he lasted only two months – and a .597 PACo at Triple-A Reading – before he was released.

In Mexico, though, Beer has been reborn. There was indeed a spark in the fire that needed a log thrown on it. If it sustains, it is of note that players have used strong seasons in the LMB to work their way back into MLB organizations before, particularly hitters with Beer’s power profile. But it is a long short, and as things stand, Beer remains firmly stuck in Let’s Remember Some Guys territory.

Most players with only 51 Major League games to their name are forgotten quickly. Beer, though, is still discussed regularly by Diamondbacks fans years later, largely because the moments attached to him were so specific and easy to remember: the homer in his first at-bat, the National Beer Day walk-off, and the sense that every time he came up there was at least a chance something unusual might happen. More of a hope than a chance, to be sure, but it still resonated. Now, in Mexico, he is finally producing the sustained offensive numbers people once expected when he was one of baseball’s better hitting prospects. Let us remember some guys indeed.