Jose Berrios Cleared, Fans Exhale

The New Britain Rock Cats may have dodged a significant bullet last night, and the Minnesota Twins as well as Twins Territory can breath a collective sigh of relief.  Jose Berrios left last night’s Rock Cats start after seeing a velocity drop and experiencing apparent right arm (his throwing arm) pain.

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According to Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press, Jose is doing just fine today.  Berardino heard from a source with direct knowledge of the situation that, “Jose’s fine. No pain, no tightness today. No need for further medical exam.”

After throwing only 48 pitches on Tuesday night, and experiencing a slight drop in velocity, his shoulder tightness was an extreme cause for worry.  With Kohl Stewart recently hitting the Cedar Rapids DL (and now being cleared to work his way back), along with the slew of other pitcher injuries baseball has seen this year, the news was initially scary.

Jose Berrios was recently ranked as the 38th best prospect by MLB.com and the 5th best in the Twins system.  While both Berrios and Stewart had recent scares, it seems both will be back on the mound quickly.

Stewart was in Minneapolis on Tuesday and an MRI found no structural damage on his shoulder, allowing him to return to the mound shortly.

Twins fans have to be excited about the positive news.  With both pitchers looking like they could make an impact as early as 2016, the Minnesota Twins have cause for excitement to build at Target Field.  Look for Berrios and Stewart to both return to their quest to move through the farm system in a matter of weeks.