Milling About In Idaho

By Adam Foster
March 21, 2007

While Fresno State was preparing to face Cal State Fullerton in the 2006 NCAA tournament, Beau Mills, the Bulldogs' star third baseman, was packing his bags to visit his dad in Boston.

Mills became part of a lesson that sent shockwaves through the student-athlete population at Fresno State. The biggest bat in the Bulldogs' lineup, Mills was ruled academically ineligible for regionals after violating a contract he signed with the athletic department in the spring of 2006.

Fresno State fans didn't know it yet, but Mills' Bulldog career was over.

Mills' father Brad, an ex-big leaguer and the Red Sox' bench coach, was already having discussions with then-Sox closer Keith Foulke, who spent his college days playing for at Lewis-Clark (Idaho) State. Stemming from those talks, the younger Mills decided to look into transferring to the NAIA superpower, coached by Ed Cheff.

"I didn't expect any of this to come up," Mills said. "But when it did, I was in Boston with my dad, and he was making all the phone calls and I was there with him. I didn't really know what to expect. I never even made a trip out to (Lewis-Clark State) to see what the campus was like. I never even knew about Lewis-Clark State . . . the team or the history or Cheff. I kind of was in the dark."

Mills decided to play in the Alaska League for Cheff's Alaska Goldpanners team over the summer and immediately wowed the coach.

"He's the best hitter I've ever been around," Cheff said. "And that's counting USA teams and the Alaska League. I've never seen a better hitter that combines proficiency and power and can use the whole ballpark. And that's in 30 years of coaching."

After hitting .355/.411/.675 with 14 home runs (in 200 at-bats) in his final season with Fresno State, Mills belted seven home runs in 152 at-bats with the Goldpanners before deciding to transfer to Lewis-Clark State.

"Some people say, 'Division I, NAIA totally different,' but you've still got to be in that box," Mills said. "We've faced some good arms, we've faced some OK arms, but no matter what you've got to bear down and face a pitcher like he's the best."

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound junior has tormented NAIA pitching (.421 batting average with eight home runs and an .829 slugging percentage in the Warriors' first 19 games) with his polished hitting mechanics, tremendous bat speed and strong wrists.

"You can break hitting down into a lot of parts, and when you break Beau down, he's solid in the whole thing," Cheff said. "Biomechanically, he has just a great swing through all parts of the zone. It doesn't make any difference low and in, low and away, up and in. The guy has a great stroke for a variety of pitches and that's what makes him such a great hitter.

"A lot of guys, if they get their pitch, they do a lot of damage. Beau can do a lot of damage to a variety of pitches. He really doesn't have a weakness. The weakness he's going to have is that people won't pitch to him and that he'll have to have patience."

After Mills went 3-for-3 with three doubles and five RBIs against St. Martin's (Wash.) early this season, St. Martin's coach Joe Dominiak said his team's strategy for facing Mills was to "just kind of hope and pray."

While there's little doubt that Mills' advanced plate approach will translate to professional baseball, his defense gets mixed reviews.

Talent evaluators and opposing coaches have doubts that Mills' arm and bulky frame will play at third base in the big leagues, but Cheff insists that Mills has the athleticism and instincts to stick at the hot corner.

"The guy's a third baseman no doubt. If you had one thing on Beau, his arm might be just a tiny bit short," Cheff said. "But his range and his glove and him being a play-maker . . . he's a prototypical major league third baseman right now."

A potential first-round pick in June, Mills figures to shatter the record for the highest player ever drafted out of Lewis-Clark State. Foulke, the man who talked Mills into becoming a Warrior, currently holds the record (ninth round in 1994 by the Giants).

San Francisco has drafted or signed six of the eight Warriors who have gone on to play in the major leagues, a group that includes Marvin Bernard, Jason Ellison, Steve Decker, Rick Reed, Frank Williams and Foulke. The Giants have six of the first 60 picks in the 2007 draft, and it's possible they could target the Visalia, Calif., native with one of them.

"That would be great," Mills said. "A local team like that . . . that would be amazing."

So far with the Warriors, Mills is proving that it doesn't matter what team he plays for, he's going to hit.