Jose Berrios has upside - but could he burn fantasy owners in 2020?
Yahoo Fantasy’s Scott Pianowski and Vlad Sedler of Elite Fantasy discuss if the two-time All-Star is worth in current price in fantasy baseball drafts. Subscribe to the Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Video Transcript
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SCOTT PIANOWSKI: I have a lot of Jose Berrios. He's on your do not draft or I'd prefer not to draft list. What don't you like about Berrios?
VLAD SEDLER: I want to love Berrios, because I've been a fan for many years. Maybe it's something psychologically, just that feeling of being burnt-- not quite burnt, it's just the fact that this is a guy that I'm expecting big things out of. And he continually kind of drops in an ERA between 365 and 39. And it's just-- you know, maybe it's splitting hairs, but I just expect a lot more out of him.
Strikeout rate went down a little bit last year. And I don't know. There really isn't anything that I don't-- that I hate about him. And I would love to see him take it to the next level. But there are just always guys that I prefer in that range.
So I would-- it would be one of those things that if he fell around where he's going, I would snap him up. I would hope for the best. I do think he has great upside. But for some reason, he's just had those weird splits, weird home road splits, where he gets destroyed on the road.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: And you mentioned, just sometimes it's a case of every time it would make sense to draft him, you may just have pictures in that pocket you like more, or players, maybe hitters you like more in that pocket, so you end up not getting somebody. And it's not that you're just jumping up and down and saying he's a bad player.
I mean, I think I've ended up with Berrios, because I've talked myself into his price being his floor, but him still having some upside. I wish he was a little bit taller. I feel like he has a really good release point. He's good at-- I don't know how you would describe this, but I think he does a good job of stretching himself from the mound to where he actually contorts himself and where he releases the pitch from.
But he's had a couple of fall backs and second halves this season, so maybe he's not quite as durable for a full season. It will be interesting to see how he might pitch over a three or four month season. But I do have some Berrios shares. But your trepidation there is well merited.
