AFL Spotlight: Eric Berger

Berger is pitching well in the AFL.
(Photo: Tony Lastoria)

We are down to the final days of the Arizona Fall League (AFL) season as regular season play wraps up this Thursday. After a one game playoff between the two division leaders is played on Saturday, everyone will have gone home for the winter.

For Indians left-handed pitcher Eric Berger, 24, it will put to an end a disappointing 2010 season.  A year where in 23 starts between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus he went 5-6 with a 4.90 ERA.

"It was a learning experience as every year is not going to go too smoothly,” Berger said. “With how my April and May went - and I know I can't take that away - if I move beyond that I think my year was decent. It was definitely a learning experience, and at the end of the year I felt really good, especially with my curveball as I had a lot of confidence in it and I was throwing it pretty well."

It was a rough month indeed for Berger in April and May as he made seven starts and went 1-4 with a 7.73 ERA. In 29.1 innings he allowed 35 hits, 24 walks, and had 21 strikeouts. Things got much better from June 1st on as he made 16 starts and went 4-2 with a 3.92 ERA. In 82.2 innings he allowed 74 hits, 48 walks, and had 69 strikeouts.

Berger’s better performance from June 1st on was mostly the recent of him getting his pitching legs under him. He had injured his oblique in his last appearance of spring training which shelved him for about the first four weeks of the season. After the time off and learning to cope with the injury, it took some time for him to get back into pitching form after being off for about a month.

A lot of times a poor pitching season can result from an early season injury where the pitcher spends the rest of the season trying to get all the way back, which is what may have happened with Berger.

"It wasn't even the last game as there may have been a week left of spring training and I tweaked the oblique a little bit,” Berger said. “Then I slept wrong on the bus coming back from Portland and missed another two or three weeks. So, yeah, I had to deal with that a little bit [this year]."

While his 2010 season in affiliated ball may have been a disappointment, Berger’s performance so far in the AFL has been promising where in eight relief appearances he is 0-0 with a 0.90 ERA. In 10.0 innings he has allowed 7 hits, 7 walks, and has 12 strikeouts. The high walk-rate is still a concern, but it is nice to see his strikeout numbers jump back up and him continue to be tough on hitters in holding them to a .184 batting average.

Berger has been pitching out of the bullpen in the AFL mostly because each organization can only designate one pitcher to be a starter. Since left-handed Scott Barnes was sent to the AFL to start, that meant Berger had to pitch in relief.

But the move to the bullpen in the AFL could be a precursor for what actually happens next year for Berger. The Indians have a lot of starting pitching depth at the Double-A and Triple-A levels next year where it likely will push him to the bullpen. Add in the fact the Indians have almost no left-handed relief options in the upper levels of the system, and there is value in such a role for Berger even though his experience in such a role is limited.

"It looks like it,” Berger said about his potential change in role to a reliever. “I don’t know though as I thought I would be starting actually [here in the AFL], but I am coming out of the pen. I did it for a month [for the University of Arizona] when I came back from Tommy John surgery and a little my freshman year in college, but that's it [as far as experience goes in the role]."

Most of the players in the AFL are not working on doing too much as far as any mechanical changes to their swing or delivery, but considering Berger lost about six weeks of time this year because of the oblique injury in the spring he is in the AFL to make up innings and also work on improving the command of all of his pitches.

"I want to get better fastball command and use this [time in the AFL] to throw maybe 2-0 offspeed,” Berger said. “Because when you get to the upper levels you need to throw offspeed for a strike as catchers are going to expect that you can throw a 2-0 pitch for a strike that is not a fastball. So I am [working] on that no matter what the count is to just throw anything and be confident.”

With the AFL season coming to a close later this week, Berger plans to take some time away from baseball this offseason with some much needed vacationing. He will also work with the youth giving some pitching lessons, something he loves to do and hopes to do more of this offseason.

"I am going to work out and probably do some pitching lessons and vacation,” Berger said. “I like to work with kids and do pitching lessons and stuff in northern California. I like doing that because it is the offseason and it is nice to talk about it. Even when you are talking about pitching and not doing it you are still registering stuff and reminding yourself. So I would like to do that and also enjoy some time off, and try and get to the big leagues next year."

Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI.  His latest book the 2010 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is also available for purchase on his site for a special year end closeout sale of $10.00 (including shipping and handling stateside).

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