Minnesota Twins Should Promote Jose Berrios on Tuesday, But Will They?
By Jason Burke
Even though division aspirations are long gone, the Minnesota Twins are within shouting distance of one of the AL wild card spots, currently 1.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for spot number two. The race is tight, as the flailing Los Angeles Angels sit a game behind the Twins, with the Orioles and Rays just three back. With September right around the corner, it’s time for the Twins to make one last push towards the postseason–way ahead of schedule–by adding another top prospect to their roster.
One advantage that Minnesota has is that they’ll be playing their games primarily against a weaker division when compared to their competition in the AL East. The Royals (5-8), White Sox (9-4) and Tigers (5-8) will split three-game home-and-home series with Minnesota throughout the month, while Cleveland (7-5) will play three in Minnesota and four at home. The last three games of the season will be played at home for the Twins as they’ll face-off against the division-leading Royals, who just may be resting players by that point. All things considered, the Twins have the schedule to get into the second wild card spot.
But do they have the players?
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Miguel Sano has put on a show with his no-doubt home runs, hit a very respectable .284 with a monstrous .391 on-base percentage (OBP) and has driven in 38. Minnesota ranks 10th in baseball in runs scored with 556, and sixth this month with 122. The offense is there for this team, but the pitching staff holds a cumulative 4.15 ERA, 22nd in baseball.
One way to help out the pitching staff would be to bring some talent aboard, no? Luckily, they have such a player in right-handed pitcher Jose Berrios, the number 23 prospect in baseball. Berrios has made 25 starts in the minors this season, 15 in Double-A Chattanooga, and 10 in Triple-A Rochester, putting together an ERA of 2.95 in the process.
In 64 2/3 innings with the Rochester Red Wings, Berrios is 4-2 with a 2.78 ERA. The most impressive stat concerning the 21-year-old is this: 73 strikeouts, 13 walks. That’s a strikeout per nine rate of well over one an inning at 10.2, and a walk to strikeout ratio of 5.62. An average pitcher will generally hope for somewhere in the 2.0-3.0 range here, and Berrios has shown he’s not a fan of throwing too many balls, but is a fan of getting the whiff.
His first two outings in Triple-A were a bit rough, totaling 10 2/3 innings and giving up nine earned runs, but since, the righty has pitched 54 innings, allowed 11 earned, struck out 61 and walked just nine. That’s good for an ERA of 1.83 and a K/BB ratio of 6.78. To say he seems ready for a stint in the majors appears to be an understatement.
Jose Berrios has started the last two Futures Games during the All-Star break, but for the Twins the future should start in earnest on Tuesday when rosters expand. The only possible hangup is that Berrios isn’t on the Minnesota Twins’ 40-man roster at this point, so we’ll just have to wait and see if they’re serious about making a push towards the postseason.