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Minor League Ball Community Discussion: the enigma of Jose Berrios

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Jose Berrios returns to the majors with the Minnesota Twins. What do you expect from him?

Cleveland Indians v Minnesota Twins Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

The Minnesota Twins have recalled right-handed pitcher Jose Berrios from Triple-A Rochester. He'll start tomorrow against the Cleveland Indians.

Berrios lost his rookie eligibility in 2016 of course, but he still counts as a prospect in generic terms since he's unproven at the major league level. He's certainly proven in Triple-A: he was dominant there last year (2.51 ERA, 125/36 K/BB in 111 innings, just 74 hits) and was even better in 2017 (1.13, 39/8 K/BB in 40 innings, 24 hits).

He was downright dismal last year (8.02 ERA in 58 innings) for the Twins during his MLB trial but he's still only 22 years old, he was one of the top pitching prospects in the game a year ago, and there is literally nothing left for the International League to teach him.

So, let's talk about Berrios. What do you expect? My personal expectation is that he has his confidence back and while some ups-and-downs can be anticipated, I doubt he'll get slaughtered like he did last year. My guess is that we'll see league-average or slightly worse performance for 2017, but then he starts steady improvement in 2018 and emerges as a very solid number three starter.

What do you guys think?