Jason Berken, pitcher
Is he a starter? Is he a reliever? What’s his future?
Jason Berken shot to the major leagues in 2009 because the Orioles’ starting rotation was crumbling and because he had a 1.05 ERA in 5 AAA starts. After he started quickly, he had a terrible 2009 as a starter (6.54 ERA), rebounded with a fairly good 2010 as a relief pitcher (3.03 ERA in 62 innings), and then had a terrible (but slightly less terrible than 2009) 2011 as a relief pitcher (5.36 ERA in 47 innings.) He was sent to Norfolk a couple of times to get work and pitched okay.
I would classify Berken as a “wishful thinking” class starting pitcher, a step above desperation options like Chris Jakubauskas and Alfredo Simon. There really isn’t any reason to think Berken can be a good starting pitcher, but at least you can hope. Among the Orioles’ 2012 options, he ranks almost at the bottom.
Berken has neither the dominant stuff nor the consistency to be a closer or set-up man. He’s probably no better and no worse than dozens of other candidates for a middle-relief job.
I think Berken’s future is the Atlantic League. I just don’t see him being good enough for a major-league career.
Datacasting in Norfolk 
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