Because he plays for the small-market Minnesota Twins, Jose Berrios is rare acknowledged among the American League’s best pitchers, but the two-time All-Star certainly is. Here are two props available to wager at Mybookie on Berrios’ 2020 MLB season – assuming there is one – and an overview.
Jose Berrios MLB Awards Odds & Analysis For 2020 Season
- Most wins of any pitcher: Berrios is +2200
- AL Cy Young Award: Berrios is +1600 to win his first Cy Young
Berrios is one of the best values in the American League when it comes to his contract. He lost his arbitration case against the Twins and will make a $4.025 million salary in 2020. Berrios asked for a $4.4 million salary when arbitration figures were exchanged. Last year, he made just $620,000.
In what was a breakout year for the Puerto-Rican right-hander, Berríos set several career-bests, including: Wins (T-2017), quality starts (21), innings pitched (200.1), ERA (3.68), groundball percentage (43.2%), walk percentage (6.1%), walks-per-9.0 (2.29), strikeouts/walks (3.82), first pitch strike percentage (65.2%) and run support average (6.06 runs per start).
Berríos finished fourth in the American League (10th in MLB) with 21 quality starts, while 23 out of his 32 went at least 6.0 innings (including 11 7.0+ inning efforts). He had double-digit strikeout totals three times: 10 on Opening Day (March 28 vs. Cleveland), 10 on June 17 vs. Boston and a season-high 11 July 31 at Miami.
Berrios won five straight starts April 14-May 7, setting a career-high for a win-streak. He posted a 2.76 ERA (32.2 IP, 10 ER) in that stretch. He went 8-5, 3.00 ERA (117.0 IP, 39 ER) with 23 walks, 104 strikeouts, a .238 opponent batting average and 14 quality starts in 18 starts pre-All-Star break. Berrios tied for third in the AL in innings pitched, fourth in ERA, and tied for 11th in wins.
He got his 500th career strikeout July 14 at Cleveland, fanning Jake Bauers. Berrios appeared in his 100th career game September 4 at Boston and set the club record for most strikeouts (559) through first 100 career games, surpassing Bert Blyleven, who struck out 553 through 100. Finally, Berrios ranked sixth in the majors with a 36.4% opponents’ swing percentage on pitches outside of the strike zone, fourth in the AL in first-pitch strikes (65.2%), eighth in the AL with a 3.68 ERA and innings pitched (200.1).
He is one of 10 Twins to post multiple 30-start seasons before turning 26 years old. Berrios threw a career-high 200.1 innings pitched in 2019, becoming the 19th Twin younger than 26 to reach the 200.0 IP threshold, first since Johan Santana and Carlos Silva (both 25) in 2004. In 103 career regular season starts, Berríos has thrown 51 quality starts (49.5 percent).
Berríos ranks in the 86th percentile in baseball with an average exit velocity of 86.5 MPH. Among AL pitchers with 500-or-more batted balls, Berrios has the fourth-lowest average exit velocity against him, and the fourth-best hard-hit percentage (32.0%).
He got the start in Game 1 of the ALDS vs. the Yankees and only lasted four innings in a no-decision, a game that New York would win. Berrios allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits. Berrios punched out six on the night while also walking three. He threw 88 pitches over his four frames — only 54 of them for strikes. All of the damage done against him came in the third inning, where Edwin Encarnacion delivered an RBI double, then a pair of runs scored on an error by C.J. Cron.
If there’s one worry regarding Berrios, it has been his second-half performance, and 2019 was no exception. He’s struck out fewer batters in first halves (8.7 K/9) than second halves (9.0), but also issued fewer walks (2.3 BB/9 to 3.8) and allowed more home runs (1.25 HR/9 to 1.08).
Jose Berrios features two fastballs — four- and two-seam — along with a curveball and changeup. His most frequently used pitch, the four-seam, sits around 93.1 mph along with a spin rate of 2,190 rpm and a spin efficiency of 98.0 percent.
