The Minnesota Twins may be baseballs biggest surprise at this point in the campaign. Owner of the third-most wins in MLB, the Twins have gotten significant contributions from Jose Berrios to help fuel to a successful start to the year.
Last Tuesday, Berrios picked up his sixth win of the season, the most in MLB at the time. Even more impressive was the fashion he did it, throwing seven scoreless innings in Minnesota's 3-0 win over Toronto. He struck out five while allowing just four hits.
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“This kid has a very unique way to spin the ball," Pedro Martinez said on DAZN's ChangeUp. "He’s got a mid-to-high 90s fastball, he’s got great flexibility in his body (and) his mechanics are going to get even better.”
The win was Berrios' fifth straight and seventh quality start of the year.
“The movement he creates on the fastball, the spin on the breaking ball … he’s starting to recognize what he needs to do to keep hitters off-balance,” Martinez said.
As a starting rotation, Twins' pitchers have cut their ERA from 4.50 last year to 3.74 this year. Their 21 combined wins are more than any other rotation in baseball. It took Minnesota 74 games in 2018 to reach that number. So what's been the key to Berrios and his teammates' success?
The answer seems to be as simple as living in the strike zone more often. Per Sports Illustrated, Twins pitchers rose from 13th in the league last year on first-pitch strikes to second this year, from 14th in strike percentage to fifth, and from 13th in walk rate to fifth.
"Having a better team behind him and an outstanding defense (will help)," Martinez said. "The (Twins) don’t surprise me. They do everything you ask them to do in the field, they run, they hit, they hit for power, they do it all.”
And while the Twins' fire power at the plate will inevitably take a slight step back, no other team in the AL Central ranks in the top half of MLB in runs scored, a pleasant sign that Minnesota's rotation may be able to continue their dominance.
Berrios pitches Monday night versus the Angels.