Would love to know what the point of this in the contract structure was. Yeah, let's tack on an $18M option, up from his <$7M the year prior, for his age 35 season, that no one will blink twice at accepting.
He’s now 24 and you’d think one of the worst teams in the league would’ve called up him. There’s something about him orgs aren’t loving which explains why he’s yet to get a shot. Certainly isn’t being blocked by Nicky Lopez.
What’s the worst that can happen? He gives up a bomb to Eloy? Ok, damage done, you’re still in the driver’s seat, and then you can take him out and he’ll still feel just as good about his start.
In his defense, Kikuchi was starting to unravel a bit and one big swing meant it's now a 1-run game with third time of the order coming up. Now that he got out of it, he should be fine to come back out with a fresh slate.
Definitely lost his release point towards the end of the inning there, nice job to still be around the zone enough following the walk even if the command wasn't pinpoint. Just has to trust the stuff is good enough to get hitters out.
Kiermaier and Varsho when he's covering CF make those deep running catches in the outfield look so incredibly routine. No ball hit out there is a safe bet to drop if they're around.
That hard, sharp slider is nasty, looks like a fastball most of the way but with enough movement and hard enough that there’s no time to adjust it dropping.
Agreed. His changeup was the best it's been with us last night IMO. Fastball being placed in good spots and with good velo, dialing it up to 96-97 a few times. I think we'll definitely take Berrios going back to his career averages, but with his stuff and poise I think it's safe to say there was always another level for him, which hopefully he's begun to take.