Charlie Beilenson doesn’t fully understand it either. How does an Ivy League-educated grandson of a Congressman who, by his own admission, wasn’t very good in high school, turn into arguably the best closer in college baseball and an MLB draftee?
“If you told [me] in high school or middle school or whatever that this was going to be the case, there’s absolutely no way I believe it,” Beilenson said. “And that honestly might be the same way now.
“I mean, [I’m] certainly super proud of it, but like, is this real? Do I deserve this? What the heck happened?”
Beilenson, 24, was drafted Monday in the fifth round, 154th overall by the Seattle Mariners. The Chaminade alum was one of several local products to be selected, including Harvard-Westlake’s Bryce Rainer (10th, to the Tigers), Notre Dame’s Levi Sterling (37th, Pirates) and Camarillo’s Boston Bateman (52nd, Padres). Few have anything resembling his story.
Beilenson, the grandson of longtime San Fernando Valley representative Anthony Beilenson, is the definition of a late bloomer. He pitched sparingly at Chaminade, mainly appearing in relief. Even as a junior, Chaminade’s coaches considered sending him to junior varsity for more experience.
“You can straight up, objectively put it, I was not good,” Beilenson says now.
Part of the reason was undiagnosed hypothyroidism. Beilenson learned in college that his thyroid struggled to produce a hormone that controlled his metabolism and energy levels. Doctors were shocked Beilenson didn’t feel awful. Apart from struggling to pitch deep in games, he felt fine.
Despite minimal innings, an improperly functioning thyroid, and a 6-foot, 160-pound frame, Beilenson threw hard enough to get slim collegiate attention. Still, academics were the main reason he committed to Brown.
He struggled as a freshman, finishing with a 13.91 ERA. The COVID-19 pandemic cut short his sophomore year. Most conferences returned in 2021. The Ivy League waited.
He sees it as a blessing. He lived with six of his Brown teammates, good company in a pandemic. Whenever free, they went to the gym, squatting, bench pressing, and doing other non-baseball lifts without fear of baseball injuries. Beilenson entered Brown at 160 pounds. When he graduated, he was between 205 pounds and his current 220.
The pandemic also taught Beilenson not to take baseball for granted. The NCAA gave all Ivy League athletes two additional years of eligibility, and after graduating from Brown, Beilenson knew he wanted to keep playing.
He reached out to several high-academic schools, but one stood above the rest, his father’s alma mater, Duke. Beilenson emailed the Duke coaches, writing that he could help the team. While skeptical, the Blue Devils offered a deal: If he got in, he could walk on.
That was enough for Beilenson. He was in. Then everything clicked.
In his first bullpens at Duke, Beilenson was throwing around 89 mph. Then he consistently hit 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. He hit 95 in a late season rivalry game against North Carolina. His changeup had bite. Other offspeed pitches fooled some of the best hitters in the country.
At the same time, Beilenson began medicating correctly for his hypothyroidism. He felt healthier, and years of pushing through his condition helped his body recover quicker than most. He never tired, at one point pitching six times in nine days. By the end of the season, he led the country in appearances with 39, breaking Duke’s school record. In 60-2/3 innings, he had a team-high 78 strikeouts and a 3.86 ERA.
“Early on in the spring, we started realizing that, ‘Hey, this guy is going to be a key for our success in 2023,’” Duke coach Chris Pollard said. “And then, as the year continued to go along, it became more clear to everybody, ‘Hey, this guy’s one of the best relievers in the ACC.’”
In 2024, he became one of the best relievers in the nation. As Duke’s closer, Beilenson threw 62-2/3 innings, finishing with 92 strikeouts, a 2.01 ERA, second-best nationally, and an ACC-best 12 saves. He was a unanimous first team All-American, the first in Duke’s history.
“I just wanted to win baseball games,” Beilenson said. “… It’s just surreal.”
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He’s optimistic, yet realistic, about his future chances. Armed with a Brown degree in Economics and two Duke graduate degrees (including an MBA), he understands some of why Seattle drafted him is because signing someone without remaining college eligibility saves money.
But the Mariners wouldn’t have drafted a 24-year-old reliever if they didn’t think he could be in the majors quickly.
“We get a lot of really highly touted prospects at Duke, and guys that you could look at and say this guy has a chance to pitch in the big leagues one day or play in the big leagues one day,” Pollard said. “But [for Beilenson] to come seemingly out of nowhere, as a guy that was sort of an average reliever in the Ivy League, to now being a guy that I would bet my house [will] pitch in the big leagues, it’s just a really, really neat story.”
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