DUNEDIN, Fla. — José Berríos is ready to end the discussion on his exit.
The last time the Blue Jays starter was on the mound in a game that mattered, in a controversial decision, the right-hander was pulled in the fourth inning of Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series against the Minnesota Twins, despite what had been a truly dominant outing to that point.
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Blue Jays fans, you can skip over this part — but for those who need reminding, after Berríos was pulled from the game, left-hander Yusei Kikuchi entered, gave up two runs and the Blue Jays lost 2-0. The firestorm that followed Berríos’ surprising hook dominated headlines on both sides of the border in the days after and refuelled the seemingly never-ending debate between the balance of analytics and the eye test.
After the Game 2 loss and the Blue Jays’ subsequent elimination from the postseason, an emotional Berríos stood by his locker in the visitors’ clubhouse at Target Field and expressed confusion and frustration about the decision to pull him from the game. Some of his teammates echoed that frustration.
Our Machine Is Ready 🦾
La Makina’s 2024 Starts NOW! pic.twitter.com/bJTbsxpExT
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) February 29, 2024
But soon after the season ended, and emotions weren’t quite as high, Berríos had a frank conversation with Blue Jays manager John Schneider and other leaders in the organization. The discussion, Berríos said, cleared the air. Now, he has moved on from the moment and is ready to focus on rewriting a new narrative this season.
“We had a conversation, we talked — me and the team — about the situation. We got clear, we got on the same page, so we are ready to turn that page about that last game,” Berríos said. “It gave me that knowledge or confidence and the opportunity to talk with them — and they heard me — made me feel more comfortable.”
Naturally, the way things ended soured the year for Berríos. As Schneider put it: “It soured everyone’s year, I think, myself included.”
But the bitter end shouldn’t have spoiled Berrios’ overall performance, through which he re-established himself as a beacon of consistency after what had been an inexplicably uneven 2022 season, and reminded everyone why the Blue Jays invested $131 million in the starter.
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“You look back at his year as a whole and it was really good,” Schneider said. “Got back to what he’s always done over his career. I think him wanting to take another step and keep evolving as a pitcher was awesome. And I think just everyone being on the same page a little bit, I think it’s just back to baseball right now.”
It was back to baseball and back to the same-old Berríos on Thursday when he opened his Grapefruit League campaign with two scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies. The outing, in which he allowed two hits with a strikeout, was simply about getting back on the mound and competing, but Berríos also debuted a new cutter he’s added to his repertoire.
Berríos has been working on the cutter throughout his bullpen sessions this spring, but he only threw two in the game — one generated a ground-ball out and the other was a ball. He’ll continue to refine the pitch in the coming weeks, but he imagines it being a weapon he can throw against lefties to generate weak contact.
For Berríos, and the entire Blue Jays rotation, this spring is primarily about getting in their work and staying healthy — which is something Berríos has all but mastered. Since debuting in 2016 with the Twins, Berríos has never been placed on the injured list and has made 32 starts per season since 2018 (excluding the shortened 2020 season when he made 12 starts).
Asked for the secret to Berríos staying so healthy, Schneider first muttered under his breath, “Knock on wood,” before expanding on his answer.
“He’s just so diligent with his routines, he understands his body, understands whether he needs to do a little bit more or less in between starts,” Schneider explained. “Super athletic, (he) takes great care of himself, so I think when you look at all those things, that’s why players like that get big contracts. You trust that they’re going to put the work in to keep themselves ready. So it’s just a credit to him.”
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Being able to reliably start every fifth day and amass innings for his team year in and year out is a point of pride for Berríos.
“I’m going to be available every day and do what I love to do (which) is pitching, so that’s the way I see it,” Berríos said. “I know it’s hard; it’s not easy, but that’s my job.”
That’s an opinion the entire Blue Jays rotation shares. Toronto’s starters ranked third in the majors in ERA last season and their top four starters — Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Kikuchi and Berríos — accounted for 742 1/3 innings. It’s a group that takes satisfaction in pitching deep into games and Berríos is looking forward to what the group can do this year, especially if Alek Manoah can follow in his footsteps and author a bounce-back season of his own.
“The thing I most like (about the rotation) is we are good pitchers, good people, but also we are competitors, all five, including Manoah,” Berríos said. “I know he’s going to be good. He’s going to be ready and going to join us. He’s going to break camp with the team. So having all five ready to compete and do their best for the team makes me feel more comfortable and happy knowing we’re going to be good every five days.”
And Berríos is putting in the hours this spring to make sure he fulfills that promise.
“His work has just been living up to his nickname of ‘La Makina,’” Schneider said. “He’s been a machine.”
(Photo of Berríos in his spring debut: Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today)