The White Sox have a lot of intriguing arms in their minor league system and in Spring Training this year. Most of these arms have come via trade within the last few months, as they have added a quite a few arms to their top-30 prospects.
One of these intriguing arms is none other than Prelander Berroa, who the White Sox acquired in the Gregory Santos trade about a month ago.
Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic as an infielder, he quickly converted to a pitcher, which has turned out to be a pretty solid move, as he has some very high potential on the mound.
Berroa would spend time in the rookie leagues before making his affiliated debut in 2021. In A ball, he would start 24 games, throwing 98 innings. He would finish with a respectable 3.56 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. He held batters to a .220 average while striking out 135 batters and walking 53. There he showed he has some elite stuff, as striking out 135 batters in less than 100 innings is pretty good. He had some trouble with walks, but he was able to work around it for the most part.
The next year in 2022, he split time at A+ ball and AA, starting 26 games and pitching about 100 innings. There, he would improve as he had a 2.86 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP, improving across the board. He had 150 strikeouts, while holding batters to an extremely low .158 average. He unfortunately still walked a lot of batters, as it jumped to 63 in 2022. He clearly showed the strikeout stuff, but he was still walking a lot of guys.
In 2023, he moved mainly to the pen at AA, as he pitched in 43 games, starting only five of them. In 65 innings, he would pitch to a 2.89 ERA with a 1.29 WHIP. He held batters to a .190 average, while walking 39, compared to 101 strikeouts. Again, he showed the strikeout stuff was there but struggled with his control. He would make 2 appearances in the MLB, pitching 1.2 innings, striking out three, but also walking three. He clearly has some control issues he needs to get resolved, but he has been effective in working through most of it to this point in his career.
Berroa has some nasty stuff. If he can get his pitches under control, he could potentially be a starter, but it is unclear how the Sox want to use him. I would love to see him in the majors this season, as he has some insane tools that could translate to a legit back of the bullpen arm. If he is similar to Santos, we easily win that trade.
Look for him to make an impact at Spring Training and play well enough to force himself onto the Opening Day roster.
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