Jason Berken made his 6th Major League start tonight, and I think continues to show reasons to believe he has a future in the bigs.

That said, I do not see that future continuing to be in the O’s rotation for very-long.

After tonight, Berken has pitched 31.1 innings, 37 hits, 22 er, 12 bb’s, and 19 k’s.
Batters have a .287 BAA, a .829 OPS against, and 0.51 Grounder to Fly-ball ratio.


Berken, who turns 26 in November, is just going to be caught-up in a numbers game.
There are a number of teams where Berken could probably continue to be a back of the rotation starter. With the O’s, he is going to find himself converted to the bullpen shortly.

In a lot of ways, I picture Berken following the path of Jim Johnson. Maybe not as a set-up man, but when the conversion to the bullpen takes place; I can see Berken’s sinker having additional bite, and a corresponding increase in velocity.

In Berken’s start June 18th against the New York Mets, Berken was occassionally hitting 97 on the OPACY gun in the 7th inning. Maybe the gun was fast, but when he only has to go a couple of innings at a time, that level of velocity might become more frequent.

Besides having multiple-pitches, and decent control; another reason I think he could have success out of the bullpen is that he pitched 145 innings + in both 2007, and 2008. Having him available for 80-100 innings out of the 2010 bullpen will be a bonus, and another sign of the strength of the staff 1-12.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/B/Jason-Berken.shtml

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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