Article: TD Top Prospects: #6 Jose Berrios

[stringer bell]

Don't forget that Berrios' season last year was complicated by being part of the Puerto Rican team at the World Baseball Classic. He worked out of the bullpen there and didn't get much work. Then he was in extended spring for quite a while before going to the Midwest League and pitching for the Kernels. This year will be more ordered and routine. I expect he will be in Fort Myers for Spring Training and stay there as a member of the Miracle until at least midseason. I hope he gets a taste of AA after that. We should have a lot better idea of his ceiling and his role by the conclusion of 2014. I met JO at Cedar Rapids last year and I thought him to be all of six feet tall. He seems like a pleasant young man and he has a firm RH handshake FWIW.

[cmathewson]

This is right about where I'm at with JB, but I still have my doubts about how much propsect stature to give to a potential closer. The Sulbaran comparison to Berrios in 2013 didn't exactly strengthen his case, and 2013, while maybe not a step backward for Berrios, still has to give pause to those still granting him his still-lofty status as a future MLB starter:

 

 

Both 19 (and within 2 months of each other in age)

Both 2nd year of professional baseball

Similar in stature

2013 stats in A ball-

 

 

Sulbaran- 113 IP/2.96 ERA/2.71 FIP/1.26 WHIP/8.1 K*9/3.16 K*BB

Berrios- 103 IP/3.99 ERA/3.44 FIP/1.40 WHIP/8.7 K*9/2.50 K*BB

 

 

It's very early, to be certain (A-ball numbers have to taken with a grain of salt from a 19 year old, I fully acknowledge that), but if a "smallish" 1st Rd. pick expects he's on his way to an MLB starting rotation, he is going to have to start putting up some superior standout numbers in the next 2 years if he's going to stay on the starting track, certainly superior to an unheralded guy who was acquired for Drew Butera. Even maintaining this 4.00ERA/3.44 FIP with K/inning numbers over the next 2 levels has "reliever" written all over it.

 

I guess I need to revisit my ranking on Sulbaran. If Berrios is at #10 on my list, he should be in the low teens based on his 19-year-old numbers and his handedness. Also, we got him for Drew Butera? What a steal.

[Don't Feed the Greed Guy]

I met JO at Cedar Rapids last year and I thought him to be all of six feet tall. He seems like a pleasant young man and he has a firm RH handshake FWIW.

 

FWIW--I think means "for what it's worth." As a fan, Stringer Bell identified two primary reasons to root for JO Berrios, IMHO. I've mastered that acronym, in my budding knowledge of "text speak."

 

Regarding prospects, it's hard to "love" or "hate" a kid who is still a prospect. It's hard for a fan who casts theories from 30,000 feet above the strike zone to render a whole lot of emotional attachment anywhere on this site. But this is why I like the kid:

 

1. He is only 6'0", perhaps more or less, depending on what shoes he happens to be wearing when my boy asks for his autograph from over the third base wall. My boy is the smallest kid in his class, so he naturally cheers louder for the Dustin Pedroia types.

 

Like Stringer's handshake with JO, I had the opportunity to meet Rich Harden before he signed with the Twins, and tried that ill-fated comeback last season. Nice try. I wish it would have worked out.

 

My encounter with Harden was over a baptismal font--eye-to-eye. I'm 5'11'' in wing-tips, FWIW. From a human interest story, it was fascinating to discover that this RHP of average height is just one of 48 pitchers to strike out the side with only nine pitches, when Oakland faced the Los Angeles Angels at the Coliseum on June 8, 2008. In the top of the first inning, Harden fanned Macier Izturis, Howie Kendrick and Garret Anderson. Oakland beat Los Angeles, 7-3. Harden pitched 6 innings, striking out 9. He did not get the win. Still, pretty good for a short guy...

 

2. I love the video that Parker posted above, capturing the family/community celebration that erupted when the Twins drafted JO. "Arms in a 'V', high-fives, hugs, and tears."

 

Beauty, IMHO. That's why I am a fan. That's why I will be cheering for this pleasant young man with a firm RH handshake. That is all.

[jokin]

He might possibly be regarded as the White Sox' best prospect and would rank as the best pitching prospect were he in either Detroit's or Cleveland's system I think.

 

BA just came out, and came to a much different conclusion, despite protestations to the contrary, it comes with Jose Abreu premiering at #29, Eric Johnson @ #63 and 2 more White Sox players (not Micah Johnson?), but no Berrios.

 

Trevor Bauer made it for Cleveland.