Berenyi's uncle was MLB pitcher Ned Garver.
Berenyi played basketball as well as baseball at Fairview High School in Sherwood, Ohio. While attending Glen Oaks Community College, Berenyi was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the nineteenth round of the 1975 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign. After a year at Northwest Missouri State University, he was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the first round (3rd overall) of the June 1976 Secondary draft.
He went 37-30 with a 3.07 earned run average and 519 strikeouts over five seasons in the Reds' farm system to earn a mid-season call up to the majors in 1980. His major league debut against the Houston Astros went poorly; making the start, he retired just one of seven batters, and was pulled with four runs already scored, and runners on first and second. Reliever Mario Soto allowed both inherited runners to score before retiring the next two, giving Berenyi six earned runs in just a third of an inning. Berenyi earned his first career win against the New York Mets on July 18. He held the Mets scoreless with seven strikeouts through seven before allowing the first three batters he faced in the eighth to reach. The Mets had pushed a run across, and had runners on first and third when Berenyi exited the game in favor of Tom Hume. Hume allowed both inherited runners to score, giving Berenyi three earned runs in seven innings on the day.

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