After a disappointing campaign that finished with Jose Berrios watching the playoff run from home, the Toronto Blue Jays pitcher is feeling healthy and ready to bounce back in 2026.
At this time last year, Berrios already felt “doubt” about his pitching elbow, he told reporters in Florida following his start against the New York Mets on Monday.
Though he was able to pitch through that doubt for most of the season, making 30 starts with a 4.17 earned-run average, he eventually ended up on the Injured List - for the first time in his career - with biceps inflammation in September.
The 31-year-old righty is feeling healthy this year, and hoping to move past the struggles of a season ago.
“Today, I felt like I had nothing on my mind that I fear,” Berríos said following Monday’s start. “I thank God that I’m back. I’m healthy.”
Berrios was healthy enough to pitch for the Blue Jays in the postseason in October, but the team elected to keep him off the roster.
It was a tough end to the season for a workhorse pitcher known around the league as ‘La Makina’ - The Machine, in English. And he didn’t handle it as well as he would have liked.
Berrios left the team and watched the World Series run from home, something he would later apologize for over the winter. He called it a “bad decision.”
On Monday, Berrios threw 47 pitches and continued to work in the bullpen afterwards. On a cold day in Florida, Berrios averaged 91.2 miles per hour on his sinker, down from his average of 92.2mph a season ago and way down from his velocity when he joined the Blue Jays, when his sinker averaged just below 94mph.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider has been encouraged by what he’s seen from Berrios in Spring Training. “José is fully healthy. He’s looked sharp,” Schneider said earlier in February. “His stuff is back to where it was probably two years ago in terms of velocity and his breaking ball.”
It might be unfair to evaluate his velocity in game action when the temperature at first pitch was 11 degrees Celsius, but that will be something to monitor as the temperature warms and Opening Day approaches.
The fact that Berrios is feeling healthy at the outset of camp is an encouraging start, and the veteran pitcher is hoping some changes he worked on with his delivery in the offseason will help him stay healthier as the season wears on.
“I’m getting better with my lower body. That way, my upper body doesn’t work too much,” Berríos said on Monday. “I want to use my whole body the right way. That way my arm won’t suffer too much during the season. I’ve been working on my kinetic sequence, trying to be better with that every day. Today, I felt that way. I feel healthy.”
The Blue Jays will need a healthy Berrios in their rotation given some of the news out of camp already - Shane Bieber is not expected to be ready for Opening Day, while minor leaguers Ricky Tiedemann and Chad Yeager are both reportedly dealing with pain in their pitching arms. Yimi Garcia, one of the top arms in the bullpen, is also progressing slowly in his recovery from surgery last September and will miss the beginning of the season.
Berrios has started three of the past four season openers for the Blue Jays, and has been one of the most consistent members of the rotation since the team acquired him from the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline in 2021. A healthy and productive Berrios could be a key contributor if the team hopes to repeat the success from last season, where they fell in extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
