Indians Top 50: #27 Eric Berger

Eric Berger - Left-handed Pitcher
Born: 04/22/1986 - Height: 6'2" - Weight: 205 - Bats: Left - Throws: Left

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2008	22	Mahoning Vy	A-	2	0	2.12	8	8	34.0	26	8	2	9	41	.203	2.4	10.9	1.03
2008	22	Lake County	A	0	0	2.08	2	1	4.1	3	1	0	2	4	.176	4.4	8.8	1.22
2009	23	Kinston	A+	7	8	2.45	21	21	110.1	93	30	4	45	100	.227	3.7	8.2	1.25
2009	23	Akron	AA	3	1	2.67	6	6	33.2	32	10	1	16	33	.250	4.3	8.9	1.45
		Totals		12	9	2.42	37	36	182.1	154	49	7	72	178	.226	3.6	8.8	1.24

History:  Berger was selected by the Indians in the 8th round of the 2008 Draft out of the University of Arizona.  He signed with the Indians quickly and was sensational in his professional debut in 2008.  He had Tommy John surgery in July 2006, and is 100% recovered from the surgery.

Strengths & Opportunities:  Berger has a standard three-pitch mix of a fastball, 12-6 curveball, and changeup. Before undergoing Tommy John surgery as a sophomore in college he touched 96 MPH with his fastball but currently sits between 90-92 MPH while touching 93 MPH.  His curveball is a solid average major league pitch and his changeup showed a lot of improvement over the course of the 2009 season and has good life and some drop to it.

Berger is extremely athletic and a fierce competitor.  He does a good job of keeping the ball down in the zone, particularly because of his arm angle on his fastball which is straight over the top.  He generates some natural leverage and tilt which makes it tough for hitters to lift the ball off of him.  He pounds the zone with strikes, has a good feel for all of his pitches, commands the zone to both sides of the plate, and changes speeds well.  He is an aggressive pitcher who doe not shy away from contact, and has shown an ability to eat innings and keep his team in the game.

Even with some open roster spots at Double-A Akron at midseason and how impressive Berger's numbers were at Kinston last year, he remained in Kinston until August in order to continue to work on his fastball command and secondary pitches.  The work paid off as at the end of the season he showed some improvement with his command and secondary stuff, especially his changeup. His improved changeup and confidence in it allowed him to use it more in fastball counts and get hitters off balance resulting in weaker hit balls.

The Indians want to see Berger improve his fastball command.  While they were very happy with the progress he made last year, he needs to throw a higher percentage of strikes with all of his pitches, his first pitch strike percentage needs to go up, and the walks need to go down.  The command of his breaking ball has also been inconsistent and needs improvement to make it more effective as a lead strike or using in fastball counts from time to time or using it as a put away pitch.  He also needs to continue to develop and improve his changeup, a pitch that has shown improvement and is starting to become a weapon in his arsenal.  He also needs to get better at repeating his delivery and maintaining the speed of his motion.  The Indians tinkered with his placement on the rubber where they moved him more to the left as he had been standing all the way to the right, which should help his arm side fastball.  Another limitation they are working on with him has to do with controlling the running game, though he did show improvement over the course of last season as his times to the plate and his comfort level when he had runners on base got better.  His move to first base when he throws over needs more work and tightened up.

Outlook: Pitching every fifth day and making 27 starts all year in 2009 was a true test of Berger's durability and endurance, and he no longer has any pain or limitations from the Tommy John surgery he had over three years ago.  Going forward, most of the focus will be in establishing a good second and third pitch to complement his good fastball. If his fastball command improves and his secondary stuff continues to get better, the Indians believe he could move quickly through the system and become a major league starting pitching option for them very soon.  He should open the season in the Double-A Akron starting rotation.

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr

Eric Berger MinorLeagueBaseball.com page

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