SAN FRANCISCO — Dylan Beavers is the type of player who speaks so softly it can be difficult to hear him.
His manager has called him “naive in a good way” and jokingly suggested that he’s so aloof that he “doesn’t know where he’s at.” His lockermate called him a “goof.” His teammates often laugh at him for saying and doing silly things.
Beavers’ aura is quintessentially California — laid back, even-keeled, too cool for school. That is a part of who Beavers is, and that personality is perhaps why his big league career is off to the races.
But the tattoo across his left forearm peels back a different layer into who Beavers is, how his mind works and what drives him.
While Beavers was in college at Cal Berkeley, he became fascinated with a Latin phrase about the creation of the universe: “Ex nihilo nihil fit.” The philosophical saying dates to ancient Greek philosophers, and in English it’s loosely translated to: “Nothing comes from nothing.”
The Latin phrase is what’s been permanently affixed to Beavers’ left forearm since he was a young ballplayer at Cal, a couple of years before he was drafted No. 33 overall by the Orioles in the 2022 draft. One of the reasons Beavers was drawn to the phrase — and why he decided to get it inked on his body — was because it has more than one meaning.
“It’s kind of open for interpretation,” Beavers said.
Originally, the dictum was used to discredit the belief that the universe was created from nothing, hence the idea that “nothing comes from nothing.” In a religious context, the phrase can be seen as a way to signal a belief in a God that created the universe.
“You need a God for all of this,” Beavers said. “But it kind of depends how you interpret it. You can look at it that way, or you can look at it, like, what you put in is what you’re going to get out.”
The double entendre is what drew Beavers to the phrase, but the latter meaning is what sticks with him as he sees the tattoo in the mirror every day. If nothing comes from nothing, then something can only come from something, Beavers explained. So as a college ballplayer with dreams of one day being a big leaguer, the only way to reach that dream would be to put in an amount of work equal to the loftiness of the goal.
“That’s one of the reasons I got it. It’s a reminder,” the 24-year-old outfielder said. “It’s a reminder to, if you interpret it as, like, you’ve got to basically work hard. If you want to achieve your dreams or whatever that may be, you’re going to have to reciprocate the work you put into what you want to get out of it. That’s the meaning of it for me.”
The tattoo is Beavers’ only one. He originally wanted to get a full arm sleeve, but he decided against it for similar reasons as most people who think about having their entire arm covered in tattoos. “It’s quite expensive,” he said. The assumption when someone has a Latin phrase tattooed on them is that they took courses to learn the language growing up.
“Nope, I took Spanish,” he said with a laugh. “I did it in Latin just because it looked cooler. I could’ve done it in English, but I don’t think it would’ve looked as good.”
Naturally, Beavers said people often come up to him and ask what the tattoo means and the story behind it. One of them was Jackson Holliday, who was drafted 32 picks before the lefty-hitting outfielder in 2022 and who said Beavers was “one of my best buddies.” The second baseman remembered the phrase’s meaning, and he recalled teammates throughout their minor league journey jokingly “giving him a hard time about it.”
To Holliday, Beavers’ tattoo is just another example of his enigmatic personality.
“I remember one of the first times I met him. Because he went to Cal, he’s like, ‘I’m the smartest person I know,’” Holliday said, recalling Beavers’ joke. “When I saw the tattoo, I’m like, ‘There’s no way it’s too deep thinking.’ I assume that one day he saw it and was like, ‘I’m going to go get that tattooed on me.’ I don’t know the full story, but yeah, probably not the deepest of thinkers.”
Holliday, whose locker at Camden Yards is next to Beavers’, called his friend a “goof.” Beavers used the same word to describe himself, and he’s aware that his friends are just as often laughing at him as they are laughing with him.
“He’s got quite a personality that I don’t think everyone quite knows,” Holliday said. “I don’t really know the best way to put it, just kind of light-hearted. I guess a little bit, like, airy. … He’s really good at just being himself no matter the situation. I think people laugh with him and definitely laugh at some of the things that he does and says. It’s a great quality to have, and especially in a baseball clubhouse. I think a lot of guys gravitate toward him because of that.”
Like Beavers’ tattoo, his skill set as a player was also up for interpretation leading up to the draft and throughout his minor league career. Beavers is lanky at 6-foot-5 and has plus tools, but his swing has always been unorthodox. It’s why he was there at No. 33 for the Orioles to draft him. It’s why he struggled in 2024 as he worked to improve his hitting mechanics. It’s why, despite putting up impressive numbers in 2023 and even better stats this year in Triple-A, that he didn’t become a top 100 prospect until shortly before his MLB call-up in mid-August.
“I think there’s a million different ways to do it. Everybody kind of has their own thing, what works for them, and everyone’s different,” Beavers said. “I think that’s why you get guys who they’ve got unconventional swings or maybe strange pitching deliveries and they have success. That’s what works for them, and they kind of embrace it and have success.”
Beavers is doing just that to begin his MLB career, and he’s bucking the trend of the Orioles top prospects who came before him.
The vast majority of prospects to make their way to Baltimore in the Mike Elias era have struggled early. Adley Rutschman hit .176 in his first 20 games. Grayson Rodriguez posted a 7.35 ERA in his first 10 starts. Gunnar Henderson opened 2023 with a .170 batting average across his first 100 at-bats. Colton Cowser, Holliday, Coby Mayo, the list goes on.
Beavers, meanwhile, is hitting .318 with a .911 OPS through the first 14 games of his MLB career. How is he doing this?
“I don’t think he knows where he’s at, and I hope he keeps that,” Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino quipped after Beavers’ second career game. Mansolino said after Beavers’ fifth game: “He looks good out there. Naive in a good way, very confident. He’s interesting.”
Naive? How can that be in a good way? Beavers said “there’s definitely some truth” to Mansolino’s comments, and perhaps that’s why he’s adjusted to the big leagues with aplomb.
“There’s a fine line,” he said. “I think if you over-analyze stuff, especially with baseball, if you’re putting too much pressure on yourself, you’re not going to be able to perform the way you want. If you make something a bigger deal than it is, you’re more likely to not do your best.”
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.