Nestor Aparicio, Orioles

So just who the heck is Jason Berken?

Nestor Aparicio

Baltimore Positive is the vision and the creative extension of four decades of sharing the love of local sports for this Dundalk native and University of Baltimore grad, who began his career as a sportswriter and music critic at The News American and The Baltimore Sun in the mid-1980s. Launched radio career in December 1991 with Kenny Albert after covering the AHL Skipjacks. Bought WNST-AM 1570 in July 1998, created WNST.net in 2007 and began diversifying conversations on radio, podcast and social media as Baltimore Positive in 2016. nes@baltimorepositive.com

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With Memorial Day in the rear view mirror and the squad on a mini-streak of daylight (they’ve won 3 of 4), the Orioles will welcome young RHP Jason Berken to the hill tonight to take on the fading Toronto Blue Jays.

Starting in Aberdeen during the summer of 2006, Berken’s trip becomes complete tonight as a big leaguer. How long will he stay? How will he pitch? Who the heck is Jason Berken?

All fair questions for the novice Orioles fan who doesn’t spend late nights up studying the team’s minor-league depth chart.

Berken is a former 6th-round Draft pick out of Clemson who spent most of the spring at the team’s slummy complex in Sarasota, Fla. He went 12-4 for Bowie last season and started there again this year, but he moved up to Triple-A Norfolk when Bergesen joined the big league rotation.

And once he arrived in Norfolk, Berken went 2-0 with a 1.05 ERA putting himself in position to be promoted tonight. It’s also his turn in the rotation and his night to pitch. So, we’ll have to wait on Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz not to mention David Hernandez, who could be taking Koji Uehara’s spot in the rotation later in the week.

In the era of the internet, it’s easy to do the research and “catch up” a bit.

Here’s a video of what he looks like: