But he still wasn't sure if he would sign.
"I'm not physically mature enough," the 19-year-old Beauchamp told The AP. "But if I have a good spring (in college), hit .400 and put on maybe 15 pounds, I might be ready to turn pro."
Beauchamp apparently did well that spring, because he did sign, starting a career that spanned more than a decade. But it was also a career that never saw the majors.
The Blue Jays selected Beauchamp out of Bacone College in Oklahoma. He was also selected with Toronto hoping he would follow his father, Blue Jays AAA manager Jim Beauchamp, to the majors.
Beauchamp played that first year at rookie-league Medicine Hat. He hit .318 with 48 RBIs. He also made the Pioneer League All-Star team.
The Greatest 21 Days caught up with Kash Beauchamp in August 2013, read the four-part interview: Kash Beauchamp, Played Hard
He moved to single-A Florence in 1983, then got his first, brief look at AA in 1984 at Knoxville. Beauchamp got his first time at AAA Syracuse in 1986.
With Syracuse, Beauchamp got into 55 games that year, hitting .263. He also hit seven home runs, one of them in a July game at Pawtucket.
Beauchamp, though, returned to Knoxville for 1987, playing 59 games that year. Early in 1988, he moved to the Braves system, playing at AA Greenville. He played 1989 at AAA Richmond, moving to the Giants system for 1990.
He returned for two more seasons in 1993 and 1994, essentially ending his playing career.
Beauchamp then began his coaching career, serving as hitting coach at AA Harrisburg in 1995. He got his first manager's job in 1998, at independent New Jersey. He then went through managing at Lincoln, Adirondack and Bangor.
In 2008, with the independent Wichita Wingnuts, Beauchamp was hit with a four-game suspension for a tirade that included showing the umpire his armpit.
"I regret it, I really do," Beauchamp told The Associated Press afterward. "I don't regret getting ejected and I don't regret trying to fire up my team, but I think I went too far, there's no doubt about it."
The year before, Beauchamp served as manager for the independent Anderson Joes in South Carolina. Talking to The Anderson Independent Mail, Beauchamp explained his job in the independent leagues.
"We've got to prepare these players to make the Major League level, the organizational level," Beauchamp told The Independent Mail. "If a player goes from this organization and walks on a Major League field 10 minutes before the game with headphones on, they're going to be called into the office and released immediately. That doesn't fly in a minor league system."
The Greatest 21 Days caught up with Kash Beauchamp in August 2013, read the four-part interview: Kash Beauchamp, Played Hard
- Regina Leader-Post, Associated Press, Jan. 13, 1982: Beauchamp joins Jays' fold
- Anderson Independent Mail, July 19, 2007: Beauchamp new Joes' manager
- ESPN.com, Associated Press, July 11, 2008: Minor league manager suspended four games for tirade
Cards Featured: 635/880 - 72.2%
Players/Coaches Featured: 646
Made the Majors: 435 - 67%
Never Made the Majors:211-33%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 185
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 137-X
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