With New Tricks, the Old José Berríos is Back for the Blue Jays

After a disastrous 2022, Blue Jays starter José Berríos is back to his usual form this season.

Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

José Berríos' six-year-old son, Sebastian, asks about his starts.

He doesn't understand hard contact, spin rates, or hanging curveballs. But, Sebastian can tell how Berríos pitched and wants to talk about his father's outings, good or bad.

Last year, there weren't many positive starts for Berríos to relive with his middle child. The Toronto starter posted a career-worst 5.23 ERA and lead the American League in hits against and runs allowed.

"As a player, a competitor, I felt upset and frustrated," Berríos reflected.

But this year, the good days have returned and the post-start breakdowns are far more cheerful. With a few new tricks, the old José Berríos is back.

Ask any Blue Jays coach, staff member, or Berríos himself, and they'll sum up the righty's 2023 rebound in one word: execution.

Berríos' 2022 struggles were particularly confounding because his stuff didn't drop off. The fastball velocity didn't fall and the spin rates barely dipped. But, Berríos missed his spots and opponents crushed the mistakes. In 2022, Berríos ranked within the bottom 15% of pitchers in hard-hit rate, barrel rate, and expected slugging.

When some hurlers inexplicably struggle, it's because they've lost the zone completely. For Berríos, it was the opposite. As the righty puts it, he was throwing plenty of strikes, but they were hitter's strikes — hittable fastballs and hung sliders. This year, he's back to throwing pitcher's strikes.

"Execution, confidence. Really being convicted with the plan," manager John Schneider said of the differences he sees this year. "His stuff has always been good, it just comes down to executing, especially fastball."

But, there's more going on than just effective execution. For five seasons Berríos had been one of the most reliable starters in MLB, never posting an ERA over 4.0. After a 5.23 ERA in 2023, Berríos was set on rediscovering his old form.

"I had to get better," Berríos said.

The righty started his offseason throwing in November, a month earlier than usual, and created a plan to test out new recovery methods — sauna, cold plunge, hyperbaric chambers. The 29-year-old stayed near Toronto's player development complex in Florida for nearly the entire winter, only returning to his home in Puerto Rico for 28 days around Christmas.

Between regular workouts with his personal trainer in Tampa, Berríos flew out to San Diego to meet with legendary 'throwing instructor' Tom House. A former Braves reliever, House has worked with other MLB hurlers on mechanics and helped NFL quarterbacks like Drew Brees and Tom Brady.

The 'professor of throwing' worked with Berríos to close off his glove side, creating a more consistent release point, and also encouraged the righty to push more with his legs. The impact of the latter has been measurable, with Berríos releasing his pitches over two inches closer to the plate this season, adding a few ticks of perceived velocity.

Berríos continues to check in with House throughout the season and has made pitch-selection tweaks with Toronto's pitching coaches, too. The biggest difference has been less four-seam fastball and more changeup. 

Last year, opponents rocked Berríos' four-seamer. They averaged a 94.5 MPH exit velocity on the delivery and hit .300 against the pitch. He still throws some variation of a fastball 50% of the time this year, but Berríos has been able to disguise the heaters with a quality change.

"Being able to throw my changeup for a strike and any time in the at-bat, that’s been the big difference so far," Berríos said.

Berríos has increased his changeup usage 3.2% from last year. It's up to 18.6% in 2023 / John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

With some minor grip tweaks, Berríos' changeup is spinning less (a good thing for an offspeed delivery) and inducing 10% higher swing-and-miss rates than in 2022. For most right-handed pitchers, changeup usage is for specific counts and almost exclusively against lefty hitters. But, Berríos busts out the pitch in any count and to both sides of the platoon. Righties are hitting just .100 against Berríos' changeup this year.

Throughout all his 2022 struggles, Berríos remained the same calm, mild-mannered teammate in the Blue Jays clubhouse, Schneider said. Through all the hard hits and short starts last year, the righty retained a quiet confidence, a swagger that occasionally leaks into a fist pump on the mound.

As much as the pitch-selection changes and mechanical adjustments, Berríos needed that confidence, he said, to prove he wasn't the pitcher he showed in 2022. The confidence, along with the offseason tweaks, to prove that last year was the anomaly.

“Every day I had that confidence," Berríos said. "If I didn’t have that confidence, it won’t work.”