Prelander Berroa

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked Chicago White Sox #10 prospect in 2024
  BA Grade: 50/High
  
  Track Record: Berroa bounced around before finding a home with the Mariners. He originally signed with the Twins for $200,000, was traded to the Giants at the 2019 deadline for reliever Sam Dyson and was traded again to the Mariners in 2022 for utilityman Donnie Walton. Berroa flourished under the Mariners’ instruction and dominated as a starter in 2022 before moving to the bullpen in 2023. He posted a 2.89 ERA in 43 appearances at Double-A Arkansas and made his major league debut with two scoreless appearances in Seattle. Berroa has now been traded again, as the White Sox acquired him in the offseason Gregory Santos trade.
  
  Scouting Report: Berroa is short in stature at 5-foot-11, but he’s strong in his frame and has a big right arm. His potentially plus-plus fastball sits 96-97 mph, reaches 100 and explodes through the strike zone with late life and finish. His 86-89 mph slider has improved rapidly with the Mariners and is another potential plus-plus offering with hard, late downward break. He can both land his slider for called strikes or drop it below the zone for swings and misses over the top. Berroa previously had a firm, well-below average changeup, but he scrapped it with his move to relief. Berroa’s shortcoming is his control. He has a maximum-effort delivery that he struggles to repeat and is prone to spinning off the mound. He only throws strikes consistently in short bursts and has well below-average control.
  
  The Future: Berroa has the stuff to be a setup man if he can improve his control even slightly. He’ll see the majors again in 2024, but with a new club.
  
  Scouting Grades Fastball: 70 | Slider: 70 | Control: 30
• 
  Ranked Seattle Mariners #11 prospect in 2023
  BA Grade/Risk: 50/High
  
  Track Record: Berroa initially worked out for teams as an infielder before converting to pitching and signed with the Twins for $200,000 on the first day of the 2016 international signing period. The Twins traded Berroa to the Giants as one of three prospects for reliever Sam Dyson at the 2019 trade deadline, and the Giants subsequently flipped Berroa to the Mariners for utility infielder Donnie Walton early in the 2022 season. Berroa took off after the trade and had his best season under the Mariners' tutelage. He finished with a career-low 2.68 ERA, a career-high 150 strikeouts and reached Double-A for the first time.
  
  Scouting Report: Berroa is undersized at 5-foot-11 but pitches bigger than his stature. His explosive, plus-plus fastball sits 96-99 mph and touches 101-102 with late life to get swings and misses in the strike zone. He began throwing his slider more after joining the Mariners and morphed it into a plus downer in the upper 80s that gets swings over the top. He is able to land his slider for strikes early in counts in addition to putting batters away with it. He also has a firm, well below-average changeup in the low 90s he rarely throws. Berroa gets ugly swings from good hitters, but his control is below-average and he struggles to stay focused for more than a few innings at a time. He no longer throws balls to the backstop as he did in his younger years, but his effortful delivery will always limit his strike-throwing. He pitched fewer than five innings in 21 of his 26 starts even during his breakout 2022 season.
  
  The Future: Berroa will continue starting for now, but his size, durability and control will make him a hard-throwing reliever in the majors. He has a chance to be a setup man who pitches seventh and eighth innings if his control improves another tick.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Slider: 60. Changeup: 30. Control: 40
• 
  Ranked San Francisco Giants #29 prospect in 2022
  Track Record: Berroa originally signed with the Twins in 2016 and was traded to the Giants in 2019 for reliever Sam Dyson. Berroa reached short-season with the Giants after the trade and spent the 2021 season at Low-A San Jose, where he struck out 135 hitters in 98.2 innings.
  
  Scouting Report: Berroa relies mostly on two pitches: a mid-90s fastball that touches 99 mph with excellent run and ride characteristics through the strike zone and mid-80s slider that gets a good amount of swings and misses. He also sprinkles in a high-80s changeup, but his fastball-slider combo makes up the vast majority of his outings. Berroa’s biggest success in 2021 came from developing into more of a pitcher than a thrower. He has started learning how to use his offspeeds in advantage counts and has become more efficient in his outings instead of throwing everything at maximum effort all the time. His command and control need to improve, which can happen if he finds a more consistent release point.
  
  The Future: The next stop for Berroa is High-A Eugene, where he’ll try to build on the gains he made in 2021. If he can do that, he might have a shot at the back of a rotation.
  

• February, 2023 Scouting Report
  BA Grade/Risk: 50/High
  
  Track Record: Berroa initially worked out for teams as an infielder before converting to pitching and signed with the Twins for $200,000 on the first day of the 2016 international signing period. The Twins traded Berroa to the Giants as one of three prospects for reliever Sam Dyson at the 2019 trade deadline, and the Giants subsequently flipped Berroa to the Mariners for utility infielder Donnie Walton early in the 2022 season. Berroa took off after the trade and had his best season under the Mariners' tutelage. He finished with a career-low 2.68 ERA, a career-high 150 strikeouts and reached Double-A for the first time.
  
  Scouting Report: Berroa is undersized at 5-foot-11 but pitches bigger than his stature. His explosive, plus-plus fastball sits 96-99 mph and touches 101-102 with late life to get swings and misses in the strike zone. He began throwing his slider more after joining the Mariners and morphed it into a plus downer in the upper 80s that gets swings over the top. He is able to land his slider for strikes early in counts in addition to putting batters away with it. He also has a firm, well below-average changeup in the low 90s he rarely throws. Berroa gets ugly swings from good hitters, but his control is below-average and he struggles to stay focused for more than a few innings at a time. He no longer throws balls to the backstop as he did in his younger years, but his effortful delivery will always limit his strike-throwing. He pitched fewer than five innings in 21 of his 26 starts even during his breakout 2022 season.
  
  The Future: Berroa will continue starting for now, but his size, durability and control will make him a hard-throwing reliever in the majors. He has a chance to be a setup man who pitches seventh and eighth innings if his control improves another tick.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Slider: 60. Changeup: 30. Control: 40
• December, 2022 Scouting Report
  BA Grade/Risk: 50/High
  
  Track Record: Berroa initially worked out for teams as an infielder before converting to pitching and signed with the Twins for $200,000 on the first day of the 2016 international signing period. The Twins traded Berroa to the Giants as one of three prospects for reliever Sam Dyson at the 2019 trade deadline, and the Giants subsequently flipped Berroa to the Mariners for utility infielder Donnie Walton early in the 2022 season. Berroa took off after the trade and had his best season under the Mariners' tutelage. He finished with a career-low 2.68 ERA, a career-high 150 strikeouts and reached Double-A for the first time.
  
  Scouting Report: Berroa is undersized at 5-foot-11 but pitches bigger than his stature. His explosive, plus-plus fastball sits 96-99 mph and touches 101-102 with late life to get swings and misses in the strike zone. He began throwing his slider more after joining the Mariners and morphed it into a plus downer in the upper 80s that gets swings over the top. He is able to land his slider for strikes early in counts in addition to putting batters away with it. He also has a firm, well below-average changeup in the low 90s he rarely throws. Berroa gets ugly swings from good hitters, but his control is below-average and he struggles to stay focused for more than a few innings at a time. He no longer throws balls to the backstop as he did in his younger years, but his effortful delivery will always limit his strike-throwing. He pitched fewer than five innings in 21 of his 26 starts even during his breakout 2022 season.
  
  The Future: Berroa will continue starting for now, but his size, durability and control will make him a hard-throwing reliever in the majors. He has a chance to be a setup man who pitches seventh and eighth innings if his control improves another tick.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Slider: 60. Changeup: 30. Control: 40
• April, 2022 Scouting Report
  BA Grade: 45/High
  
  Track Record: Berroa originally signed with the Twins in 2016 and was traded to the Giants in 2019 for reliever Sam Dyson. Berroa reached short-season with the Giants after the trade and spent the 2021 season at Low-A San Jose, where he struck out 135 hitters in 98.2 innings.
  
  Scouting Report: Berroa relies mostly on two pitches: a mid-90s fastball that touches 99 mph with excellent run and ride characteristics through the strike zone and mid-80s slider that gets a good amount of swings and misses. He also sprinkles in a high-80s changeup, but his fastball-slider combo makes up the vast majority of his outings. Berroa&#39s biggest success in 2021 came from developing into more of a pitcher than a thrower. He has started learning how to use his offspeeds in advantage counts and has become more efficient in his outings instead of throwing everything at maximum effort all the time. His command and control need to improve, which can happen if he finds a more consistent release point.
  
  The Future: The next stop for Berroa is High-A Eugene, where he&#39ll try to build on the gains he made in 2021. If he can do that, he might have a shot at the back of a rotation.
• December, 2021 Scouting Report
  Track Record: Berroa originally signed with the Twins in 2016 and was traded to the Giants in 2019 for reliever Sam Dyson. Berroa reached short-season with the Giants after the trade and spent the 2021 season at Low-A San Jose, where he struck out 135 hitters in 98.2 innings.
  
  Scouting Report: Berroa relies mostly on two pitches: a mid-90s fastball that touches 99 mph with excellent run and ride characteristics through the strike zone and mid-80s slider that gets a good amount of swings and misses. He also sprinkles in a high-80s changeup, but his fastball-slider combo makes up the vast majority of his outings. Berroa’s biggest success in 2021 came from developing into more of a pitcher than a thrower. He has started learning how to use his offspeeds in advantage counts and has become more efficient in his outings instead of throwing everything at maximum effort all the time. His command and control need to improve, which can happen if he finds a more consistent release point.
  
  The Future: The next stop for Berroa is High-A Eugene, where he’ll try to build on the gains he made in 2021. If he can do that, he might have a shot at the back of a rotation.
  
• July, 2021 Scouting Report
  Berroa was part of the package the Giants received when they sent reliever Sam Dyson to the Twins in 2019. He's shown plenty of improvement over the course of the season, and now has better control of an excellent slider to go with his mid-90s four-seam fastball. If his changeup can reach average—which it will do in flashes—he can remain a starter.