By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer -
What if I told you that for just the pro-rated portion of
this year’s Major League minimum salary the Angels could get a relief pitcher
with a career ERA of 3.06 and a career WHIP of just 1.16? You’d probably say,
there’s a catch, like he’s got an injury or those are career numbers, not this
year’s numbers. If you said either of those things, you’d be wrong. He is not
coming off an injury, and this year, his ERA is 2.88 and his WHIP is 1.18.
Interested? Me too.
That’s probably because the Angels bullpen combined is
sporting a 4.35 ERA and 1.36 WHIP, leaving them ranked 28th in ERA
and 25th in WHIP. As a team, the Angels bullpen has 22 losses (tied
for 10th worst as of the time of the writing according to MLB.com).
So, how do the Angels get this reliever? Easy. They promote
him from within the organization.
Let me introduce you to Jeremy Berg, one of the unheralded
players in our organization currently playing for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees.
He’s a sidearm pitcher who won’t blow away the hitters (mostly throwing 86-89
from what I have seen). But, he gets the job done, inducing tons of ground
balls and controlling the zone. In 72.0 IP, he has only allowed 17 BBs, or 2.1
per 9.0 IP. He’s struck out 63 batters in that time span. For a full list of
his stats, click here.
Jeremy Berg is a sidearm pitcher. It’s not an orthodox
delivery, but one that can be difficult to hit when done well. Signed as a
non-drafted free agent by the Angels in 2009, Berg has slowly been working his
way up the organization since graduating from High Point University in North
Carolina. Back in November, 2010, I interviewed Abe Flores (the Director of
Player Development at the time for the Angels) about Jeremy Berg. Here’s how he
described him:
Aggressive,
competitive guy. Strike thrower. Causes a lot of swings and misses—funky
swings. Changes speeds. Can work soft on soft. He’s just a deceptive guy. He’s
just a different package so far as what he brings to the mound, but it works.
Over the years, I’ve seen him pitch several times, but
unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to interview him for AngelsWin.com. So,
I cannot comment on him as a person. However, that’s not the point of this
article. I still want to see Berg promoted to the big league club, especially
as soon as the rosters expand on September 1st.
Here’s why: The Angels are going to have to revamp their
bullpen this offseason and they need to know what talent they have within the
system as they rebuild it. Many fans have started to become familiar with R. J.
Alvarez and Michael Morin, but they are at least a year away. Other players may
also figure into the Angels plans (one sleeper candidate is Jonathan Van Eaton
at Orem) or may get converted into a bullpen role as they move up the ranks,
but again, they are more than a year away. Jeremy Berg, on the other hand, is
ready right now.
More importantly, there’s another reason why I’d like to see
the Angels promote Jeremy Berg this year: It will give the bullpen a new look
going forward which will make it more effective. Right now, the Angels bullpen
has very little difference in it. Outside of having righties and lefties, the
Angels bullpen is pretty much the same. Most of the right-handers primarily throw
mid-90s with a slider. If the slider isn’t working, the pitchers can only throw
their fastballs, which Major League hitters can hit (and have been hitting this
season).
One of the objectives of the bullpen is to give teams a
different look and to mess with the opposing hitters’ timing. No one could
potentially mess with the opposition’s sightlines and timing more so than
Jeremy Berg. With his unorthodox sidearm delivery, his control, and his ability
to throw a variety of breaking balls and offspeed pitches, he would make for a
very effective setup man. The opposition would have to adjust from a hard
throwing pitcher before him and then adjust back to a hard throwing closer in
the 9th. It should make the entire bullpen better as whoever comes
in after him will benefit from having to make all of those adjustments.
Think of it this way: Earlier in the season, the Angels
brought in Robert Coello and he immediately had success with his forkball.
Prior to his injury, he struck out 21 in 14.2 innings and for a brief period
changed the dynamics of the bullpen because he brought a different pitch and a
different look to our bullpen. Adding Jeremy Berg could have a similar effect
because he would present something entirely different than what the rest of the
bullpen throws. Thus, not only would he have an advantage, but, whoever comes
in after him would also gain an advantage as the hitters try to readjust back
to the mid-90s fastball and slider combination.
It’s not like sidearm pitchers haven’t had success. There
have been a lot of them. With all the movement that they can generate on a
pitch, they don’t need to blow hitters away. The last Angels pitcher that I
recall pitching like that was Darren O’Day. And, Brad Zeigler from the Oakland
A’s has been very effective with that kind of delivery.
At this point, the Angels have very little to lose by
promoting him to the Major Leagues. If he does not pan out, then at least they
learned that and can move on in their efforts. But, if he has some success, it
could be an out-of-the-box move that could help transform the latter innings
for the team. If we get a solid closer, we could once again see a conveyor belt from the rotation to lighting up the halo with Berg as a part of it.
I want to see the Angels promote Jeremy Berg this September so
that they can truly evaluate how his talent will play out and what effect that
could have on our future bullpen. It would add some meaning to the remaining
games of this season and no matter what, will help determine our offseason
moves.
