Chris Berset came into the 2013 after a year split between Bakersfield and Pensacola and the 2013 season repeated that same path as he spent time at both stops once again.
The season started out rough for Berset when he began 2-26 with the Bakersfield Blaze over the first two weeks of the season. He turned things around on the 17th against Inland Empire with a 2-4 game with a double and a run. Over the final two weeks of the season Berset went 8-24 (.333) with 4 doubles, a home run, 5 RBI and 3 runs scored. With the rough start, despite the strong finish he hit .208/.240/.375 with 2 walks and 9 strikeouts in 50 plate appearances.
May started off well as Berset went 3-6 over his first two games with a walk. After that though he went into a slump where he went 2-27 to finish out the month with 4 walks and a hit by pitch. In 39 at bats for May he hit .152/.282/.152 with 5 walks and 7 strikeouts.
June saw his slump continue for two games, though Berset walked in both games. On the 6th against Lake Elsinore he broke out of the slump with a solo home run and the next day had another 1-3 effort with an RBI. On the 10th and 11th the catcher went 3-4 in each game. On the 29th against Visalia he had the best game of the month as he went 3-3 with a double, solo home run, 2 walks and 4 runs. After a slow start to the year Berset had a big June where he hit .340/.466/.532 in 60 plate appearances with 11 walks and 8 strikeouts.
July began for Berset on the 5th against Lake Elsinore with an 0-4 effort. On the 8th and 9th he went 3-5 with a walk and a solo home run. That was the last game he played for Bakersfield as he was promoted to Pensacola to play for the Blue Wahoos. He went 0-4 with 2 walks in his first two games before catching fire to end the month with a 5-11 stretch over 3 games with 3 doubles, 4 RBI, a walk and 4 runs. He would finish out the month split between the two levels with a .333/.429/.583 with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts.
The August and September stretch began with the continuation of a hit streak as he hit in each of the first three games of the month that he played in, extending his hitting streak to six games before going into a slump to end the season as he went 2-24 over his final 8 games of the year. He would finish the August and September stretch with a .125/.182/.175 line in 44 plate appearances with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.
Season Stats
| Team | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Bakersfield | 159 | 34 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 25 | .248 | .344 | .394 | .738 |
| Pensacola | 62 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | .182 | .258 | .273 | .531 |
| Total | 221 | 44 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 31 | .229 | .320 | .359 | .679 |
Overall Thoughts
Berset showed improvements at Bakersfield from the 2012 season and he really hit well there over his final month with the Blaze where he had an OPS over 1.050 in that time frame. Upon his promotion to Pensacola he found himself usually only starting twice a week and his production at the plate didn’t continue with sparse playing time. Behind the plate he threw out 31% of opposing attempted base stealers. He calls a good game and has good receiving skills behind the plate.
For more player season review, you can see the entire list here.