J.O. Berrios

[curt1965]

His last name may not be May or Meyer, but J.O. (Jose) Berrios may be the Twins future ace. Drafted in the first round (#32 overall) in the 2012 MLB June Ametuer Draft, the 6', 185 pound right hander out of Papa Juan High School in Bayamon, Puerto Rico has been on the fast tract in the organization. In his short minor league career, the 20 year old (5-27-94) has pitched well beyond his years.

He began his career in 2012 in the GCL and in Elizabethton. 2013 was spent in Cedar Rapids. In. 2014, he had stints in Fort Meyers, New Britain, and Rochester. 2015 finds him in Chattanooga (at least for the start of the year!)

Berrios is a fierce competitor and diligent workaholic. His best pitch is his 95-96 mph fastball, that sits regularly in the low 90's. His second pitch is an outstanding change up that is devastating to left handed hitters, and also has a developing breaking ball, best described as a "slurve."

Jose has a career minor league record of 23-15 with a 3.01 ERA. In 280 innings, he has 300 strikeouts!

2014 appears to be the year that grabbed everyone's attention. He was honored to start the Future's game played in Minneapolis, and finished the year leading the organization in batting average against and WHIP, was 2nd in strikeouts, and 3rd in ERA.

In first first start in 2015, he picked up where he left off last year. In nearly mid season form, he picked up the win, threw 6.1 innings, giving up only one run, while striking out 11 hitters with only one walk. His next start will be this week against Birmingham.

The fans in Minnesota are clamoring for his arrival at Target Field; despite his youth and relative inexperience, Berrios may not disappoint us if he continues on this accelerated path!

[MinnFan4Life]

    I have an absolute man-crush on this kid.  I hitched my wagon to him before he got to Cedar Rapids. Love the fact he got the extra experience of pitching for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic.  While he has plenty of talent - I am most impressed with his work ethic, dedication, and desire to excel.  I don't see anyone who wants it more then Berrios.  I think everyone would benefit (prospects and guys on the 25 man roster) from being made to work out with him in the off-season.  I asked those here who know more than I do about his chances of getting to Target Field this year. To a person, they all say next year.  I disagree. I would imagine that next year would be the original plan - but I truly believe that Berrios is going to FORCE the Twins to call him up by August.

     I just haven't seen anyone in the organization as focused as Berrios.  I will post here several times this year, because as I said before, I love this kid. He is going to be huge (for someone who everyone obsesses over his lack of height).  Let me just leave you with this for now...

 

    Imagine, dare dream that the Twins were actually a competitive ball club right now. And consider their performances over the last year plus.  If you had to call up a pitcher to try to win a game right now.  Would you send for Alex Meyer or Jose Berrios?

[curt1965]

When he wasn't mentioned in Seth's pitcher of the month article, you know J.O. Berrios didn't have the greatest opening month for the Chattanooga Lookouts. In his first 5 starts, the 20 year old Berrios (21 on May 27th) was 3-1 with a rather high (for him) 3.54 ERA. In 28 innings, he has given up 32 hits, with 10 walks and an impressive 37 strikeouts. His 1.50 WHIP will hopefully be a season high. With continued good health and more experience at the AA level, its just a matter of time before we see him at Target Field.

[jokin]

The SIERA is still pretty good @ 2.73.  His BABIP is crazy high at .384, GB% is near 43%, 10% above career average.  His K/9 at 11.89 and K% are as high as they've ever been since he played in rookie league in 2012.  Control is pretty much as good as ever. One caveat, the LD% is much too high. 

 

Looks like the kid just needs to make a few adjustments in pitch selection in the count and a little better location while facing more experienced hitters and he should be fine.

[nytwinsfan]

Sick pickoff move by Berrios tonight: https://twitter.com/SidewalkGM/status/596848773315301377

 

Also, very high praise from Kiley McDaniel:

[jimbo92107]

 

If you had to call up a pitcher to try to win a game right now.  Would you send for Alex Meyer or Jose Berrios?

 

Tommy Milone. But if I'm limited to the two you mentioned, Berrios. Meyer still needs to find his 'eye of the tiger,' or whatever they call it. Inner confidence? Controlled aggression? I'm just hoping that he's not hiding lingering effects of his previous shoulder injury.

 

As far as a future ace, Berrios is my leading candidate too. However, I'm starting to think Trevor May might just develop into one hell of a good pitcher. He seems to look better pretty much every time I see him. Meanwhile, maybe the Twins' luck with hired guns is starting to even out. Pelfrey looks like he's found an effective splitter to finish off batters, if he can nick the corners with his heater. Nolasco is a fighter, but I don't see how he ever really impressed people as an ace. Ervin Santana did look like an ace in spring. Half way through the season, the Twins suddenly will be brimming with starting pitchers.

 

One guy that's really interesting is the new reliever, Aaron Thompson. His delivery looks a lot like Cole Hammels, and his precision is quite good. I wonder if that guy could be stretched out as a starter. As for Meyer, at this point I'd consider bringing him up and letting him do time in the bullpen. Let him gain confidence gradually in low-leverage situations, like they've done with Graham.

[curt1965]

Are we getting jaded, or what? Jose Berrios got his 6th win tonight (6-2) in a 3-2 victory against the Biloxi Shuckers. Although he was not Stephan Gonsalves like (), Berrios needed 99 pitches to get the win.

In 7.1 innings, he gave up 9 hits and 2 runs, no walks, with 7 strikeouts. He reduced his ERA for to season to 2.84.

All kidding aside, his victory tonight was against a very good ball club, and he just continues to roll along as the premier pitching prospect in the Twins organization!

[Shane Wahl]

 

Are we getting jaded, or what? Jose Berrios got his 6th win tonight (6-2) in a 3-2 victory against the Biloxi Shuckers. Although he was not Stephan Gonsalves like (), Berrios needed 99 pitches to get the win.
In 7.1 innings, he gave up 9 hits and 2 runs, no walks, with 7 strikeouts. He reduced his ERA for to season to 2.84.
All kidding aside, his victory tonight was against a very good ball club, and he just continues to roll along as the premier pitching prospect in the Twins organization!

 

And I think he will be up for sure this year given the Santana situation.

[nytwinsfan]

Anyone know why Berrios came out of the Chattanooga game after 3 innings of work with no runs and just 1 hit? Hopefully he just threw 30 pitches in an inning, leading them to automatically pull him, but this makes me nervous.

[bulldozier14]

 

Anyone know why Berrios came out of the Chattanooga game after 3 innings of work with no runs and just 1 hit? Hopefully he just threw 30 pitches in an inning, leading them to automatically pull him, but this makes me nervous.

I doubt that, he only threw 41 in the 3 innings with 1 walk and 1 hit. Definitely not good...

[Bill Tanner]

 

I doubt that, he only threw 41 in the 3 innings with 1 walk and 1 hit. Definitely not good...

Except that Berrios was pulled for DJ Baxendale, a starter who has been on the shelf for a couple of weeks with an injury to his throwing arm.  I can't imagine they would throw Baxendale into the game unexpectedly in relief.  To me, this indicates a deliberate decision to give Berrios and Baxendale three innings a piece.

[curt1965]

In his first two games with the Rochester RedWings, Jose has gotten hit around a bit. In 10.2 innings, he has given up 14 hits, 10 runs, 9 earned runs, with 4 walks and 12 strikeouts, un-Berrios like numbers.

His 7.59 ERA and 1.69 WHIP are uncharacteristicly high. However, this is not a concern. It's a part of his development, part of the maturation process. He actually pitched very well for five innings in his last start.

Stay tuned- good things to follow-I have no doubt!!

[Shane Wahl]

Combined AA/AAA (since the stats are so similar, it is fair to lump them together):

 

148.1 IP, 3.09 ERA, 153 strikeouts, 36 walks, 1.092 WHIP

 

K/9 / BB/9:

 

Career 9.4/2.5

2015: 9.3/2.2

 

This is indicative of true performance going forward. Even 8.5/3 would be very good.