Jose Berrios, Minnesota Twins
Getting off to a fast start isn’t necessarily a surprise for Berrios. For the second consecutive year, he’s one of our dark horse Cy Young candidates. The young right-hander appears poised to take another step forward when looking at his 2.18 ERA through 20.2 innings.
However, two specific statistics that are surprising — his infield-fly rate allowed and soft-hit rate allowed. Berrios has induced infield flies at a 22.7% rate (fifth-best mark in baseball) and has induced soft contact at a 33.3% clip (second-best mark in baseball).
Those are large departures from his current career norms. His infield-fly rate has never finished above 10.0%, while his soft-hit rate has never been higher than 20.4%. These numbers may look like this because Berrios’ curveball usage has skyrocketed. He tossed it at a 30.5% rate in 2018 (a single-season career high), and that number is currently at 42.9%, easily the highest in baseball.
It’s regularly been his best performing pitch, and this year has been no different. Opposing hitters are slashing .129/.156/.226 against it, which has led to a 34.4% strikeout rate, 16.7% swinging-strike rate, and a 12 wRC+.
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