Very Berrios

 

I think that, with how development has evolved in the past several years, it's a lot more understandable if a player is called up at 20 or 21 and things don't click immediately. Not everybody can be Dave Winfield or Alex Rodriguez, and even somebody like Juan Soto is just...like that. The years of 20-year-careers may be behind us, because so many people are getting called up at 24 and 25 and not getting good til 27. That's just how things are.

Jose Berrios was one of those guys that came up as a huge prospect and didn't immediately soar in the majors. He struggled his first year in 2016, and while he did eventually become an All-Star for the Twins at 24, he had this habit of finding a sweet spot and then losing it and then finding it again over time. And I don't think it's too unheard of for someone to really need a buffering period to get the hang of a new city to play in, Nick Castellanos has needed a year or so to 'get' a new team ever since leaving Detroit, and I'd also throw Yu Darvish into that category. So Berrios, once he found his comfort zone, was fantastic in Minnesota, and then when the Jays traded for him he struggled a bit. He was alright in the second half of 2021, but last year he just couldn't figure it out, with a 5.23 ERA and a league-leading 100 earned runs, despite a respectable 12-7 record.

This season has a lot more of a familiar feel for Berrios. While many Jays pitchers have been on at different times this year, though concerningly not at the same time, Berrios has slowly built the most consistent season of any Blue Jays starter not named Gausman, with an 8-7 record, a 3.40 ERA and 117 strikeouts. Even with the Twins, Berrios wasn't the kind of guy that'd blow you away with immensely hard throwing, but he was always just a solid, consistent starter that could give you 6 or so innings of strong work, and that's what he's returned to being this year. What's been nice is that 4 Jays starters have ERAs below 4, and those same 4 starters have 8 or more wins, also including Yusei Kikuchi and Chris Bassitt, the latter of which has racked up 10 wins, as he's been prone to do lately.

And what's cool is that in addition to the 5 current starters the Jays have going, the four good ones and also Alek Manoah, they have also added a sixth, the returning Hyun-Jin Ryu. Like Berrios, Ryu is prone to his cycles- incredible for a few years, hurt for a few years, incredible again, etc. Now that he's back, while there is a worry that he may not have anything left, there's also the hope that he does have something, and it's enough to make the Jays even more of a threat down the stretch. It also means they don't need to trade for any starting pitchers this year, which helps. 

The Jays have been heating up recently, have been excellent this week especially, and are working their way towards Tampa in the AL East standings. I'd be perfectly alright with them lapping the Rays and embedding themselves deeper into the wild card race. If the Yanks are long-shots now, anyone more likable than the Rays [just Baltimore and Toronto at this point] is a good AL East contender for me.

Coming Tomorrow- So uh...this guy just got a hell of a lot more worried.