Jose Berrios & Dominating Starts By Young Twins Pitchers

In his most dominating, May 18, 2017, start to date against the Colorado Rockies, Jose Berrios sliced and diced through the Colorado Rockies to get credit for a 2-0 victory. It was pretty, it was masterful, and it was doubtlessly humiliating for the opposing lineup of established veterans and All-Stars from Denver. They were not [mile] high on facing him any longer than 7.2 iinnings, ahem.

Teenybopper Blyleven, 1970

And, as if he had an eye on team history, Berrios turned in his superb outing just in time to join a very select, all-time Twins pitchers fraternity. These are hurlers who were 22 years old ( or younger) with a start including:

• 10 or more strikeouts
• 1 or fewer walks

He was age 22, and 356 days. It is a list of only seven players, Dave Boswell, Jim Merritt, Tom Hall, Bert Blyleven (glory hog of the bunch!!), Frank Viola, Francisco Liriano, and Berrios. The uniting detail for each of them? Besides being phenomenally talented, they were also given plenty of attention and outright hype coming out of the minors.

That just comes with the territory, as well as its twin sisters named "pressure" and "disappointment" - the last of which Berrios had supplied plentifully for the anxious fans in Twins Territory before the 2017 season ("Oh, God, the kid's just another 1st round draft bust!). But, on this day in particular, he cut through the Rockies's lineup like a man among boys. His control and command of his Bugs Bunny-type curveball, and high fastball served him well (Fangraphs summary) against the Colorados, who were ten games over .500 at 26-16, and leading the NL West.. He is definitely not a finished product at this point, but one can confidently state he's a quantum leap ahead of last season when he seemed so amped up, looking like he wanted to throw one perfect pitch after another - only to have them sail wide of the strike zone.

STARTS BY TWINS PITCHERS 22 & YOUNGER, 
10 OR MORE STRIKEOUTS, 1 OR FEWER WALKS

Rk	Player	Age	Date	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	UER	GSc
1	Dave Boswell	22.159	1967-06-28	BOS	W 3-2	CG, W	9.0	4	2	2	1	13	2	0	83
2	Francisco Liriano	22.249	2006-07-02	MIL	W 8-0	GS-8, W	8.0	3	0	0	1	12	0	0	87
3	Bert Blyleven	22.161	1973-09-14	CHW	W 6-0	SHO, W	9.0	4	0	0	1	12	0	0	90
4	Bert Blyleven	20.041	1971-05-17	CAL	W 3-2	GS-9, W	8.0	7	2	0	1	12	0	2	75
5	Tom Hall	22.296	1970-09-15 (2)	CAL	L 3-5	GS-9	8.0	3	2	2	1	12	0	0	79
6	Bert Blyleven	19.120	1970-08-04	MIL	W 5-2	CG, W	9.0	7	2	2	1	12	0	0	76
7	JOSE BERRIOS	22.356	2017-05-18 (2)	COL	W 2-0	GS-8, W	7.2	2	0	0	1	11	0	0	85
8	Francisco Liriano	22.233	2006-06-16	PIT	W 4-2	GS-7, W	7.0	5	2	2	1	11	1	0	69
9	Bert Blyleven	22.142	1973-08-26	MIL	L 2-3	GS-8, L	7.2	9	3	3	0	11	1	0	60
10	Bert Blyleven	20.036	1971-05-12	BOS	W 1-0	SHO, W	9.0	7	0	0	0	11	0	0	84
11	Tom Hall	22.291	1970-09-10 (1)	OAK	W 6-1	CG, W	9.0	7	1	1	1	11	0	0	79
12	Dave Boswell	21.191	1966-07-30	BAL	W 7-0	SHO, W	9.0	1	0	0	1	11	0	0	95
13	Dave Boswell	21.145	1966-06-14	KCA	W 6-3	CG, W	9.0	5	3	3	1	11	1	0	75
14	Frank Viola	22.115	1982-08-12	CAL	L 1-3	GS-8, L	7.1	5	3	3	0	10	1	0	66
15	Bert Blyleven	21.181	1972-10-04	CHW	W 14-2	GS-6, W	6.0	3	2	2	0	10	1	0	68
16	Bert Blyleven	21.158	1972-09-11 (2)	OAK	W 3-2	CG, W	9.0	6	2	2	1	10	0	0	76
17	Bert Blyleven	21.045	1972-05-21 (1)	TEX	L 2-5	GS-7, L	7.0	6	3	3	1	10	1	0	62
18	Bert Blyleven	21.027	1972-05-03	MIL	W 7-0	SHO, W	9.0	4	0	0	1	10	0	0	88
19	Jim Merritt	22.281	1966-09-16	NYY	W 2-1	GS-8, W	8.0	5	1	1	1	10	0	0	77
20	Dave Boswell	21.195	1966-08-03	BOS	W 7-2	CG, W	9.0	4	2	2	1	10	2	0	80

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/6/2017 - with thanks to Aaron Gleeman of "Gleeman & The Geek" fame

Had Berrios avoided walking pinch hitter Tony Wolters - his last batter - with two out in the 8th inning, he would have joined Blyleven and Viola in the "22 Club" as only the third to not issue a free pass in a 10+ strikeout game. The only hits he allowed were singles to Geraldo Parra in the fifth, and Carlos Gonzalez in the seventh.

HOVER CURSOR NEAR GIF BOTTOM, ACTIVATE AUDIO FOR DICK BREMER'S LOVING TONES

The High Quality Colorado Rockies Lineup

Batting	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	PA	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Charlie Blackmon CF	4	0	0	0	0	1	4	.315	.356	.601	.957
DJ LeMahieu 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1	4	.280	.348	.348	.696
Nolan Arenado 3B	3	0	1	0	0	1	4	.306	.360	.599	.959
Carlos Gonzalez DH	3	0	1	0	1	2	4	.210	.279	.312	.591
Ian Desmond 1B	3	0	0	0	0	1	4	.299	.324	.418	.742
Gerardo Parra RF	3	0	1	0	0	0	3	.264	.296	.391	.687
Raimel Tapia LF	3	0	0	0	0	3	3	.000	.083	.000	.083
Pat Valaika SS	3	0	0	0	0	2	3	.234	.265	.511	.776
Ryan Hanigan C	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.280	.308	.400	.708
Tony Wolters PH-C	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	.328	.391	.431	.822
Team Totals	28	0	3	0	2	11	32	.107	.219	.107	.326

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 6/6/2017.

That's about all I have to say about that.

"So long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal