TORONTO – A year ago on the Second City’s South Side, the Chicago White Sox really knocked Jose Berrios around. They put 10 balls in play at 99 mph or harder against the Toronto Blue Jays right-hander that June 20 night, three of them homers, on 72 pitches over four innings. Much of the damage came against his fastball, with frequent arm-side misses, and an unreliable breaking ball only amplifying his troubles. The six runs against him in an 8-7 loss and the issues behind them weren’t outliers during a trying 2022 season.
Now, though, Berrios appears to be trending back to his All-Star self and a measure of the difference between now and then came Tuesday night, when he threw seven dominant innings and struck out nine in a 7-0 victory.
Backed by a Danny Jansen three-run homer in the second inning, a two-run Kevin Kiermaier triple ahead of a George Springer RBI single in the fourth and a second Jansen homer, a solo shot, in the sixth, the change in Berrios could not be more stark.
The average exit velocity against him a year ago was 95.7 m.p.h. compared to 80.1 on Tuesday, when he generated 16 whiffs rather than two. He threw 48 fastballs in that mess a year ago, while in this one, he had a relatively balanced mix between his sinker (32), changeup (25), slurve and four-seamer (23 each).
Luis Robert and Andrew Vaughn both took him deep last time. They were 0-for-5 with a walk this time.
“Huge difference, obviously,” Berrios said of the two outings. “I feel like I threw the ball where I wanted and how I wanted. I manipulated my velocities, with the fastball I’ve been really aggressive all the time but with the off-speed, I’ve been able to throw one harder and another slower. That’s when you’re pitch-by-pitch, focusing on the moment and you can pitch without throwing the ball all over the place.”
The outing made it three straight strong starts for Berrios, building on five innings of one-run ball against the Tampa Bay Rays on April 14 and seven innings of two-run ball against Houston last week. He got up to 97.4 m.p.h. against the White Sox, sat 94 and could pull a string on demand, the way he did in 2021 after the Blue Jays acquired him from the Minnesota Twins and for years before that.
“That team had been killing me lately,” he said. “I finally stopped that bad streak against them.”
He did so in impressive fashion, coming out hot by striking out the side in the first, including a 97.4 m.p.h. four-seamer that Eloy Jimenez swung through to end the frame. Overall, Berrios sat 94 and could pull a string on demand, the way he did in 2021 after the Blue Jays acquired him from the Minnesota Twins, and for years before that, too.
“Jano called the pitches, I had conviction with that and threw over the plate with conviction and confidence,” said Berrios. “That’s why we struck out all three guys and I think we created momentum from the first inning.”
Momentum had been building even before that, with manager John Schneider pointing to how “he’s been really aggressive with executing both fastball and breaking ball,” and “the conviction with which he’s throwing each pitch.”
“And if there happens to be a mis-executed pitch,” he added, “it’s just getting right back on board and not letting it snowball.”
To some degree, that happened last season when Berrios’ struggles compounded as he lost confidence, didn’t attack as aggressively and left pitches in bad spots. This year, even in his shaky outings out of the gate at Kansas City (eight runs in 5.2 innings) and Anaheim (six runs, four earned, in four innings), pitching coach Pete Walker saw signs that the 28-year-old is on the right track, particularly in the way the contact against him was generally weak.
That led to trust in an approach that by and large has him throwing his breaking ball to the lower third of the zone and down, his four seamer mostly up, and his sinker and changeup through the same lanes middle down.
A look at his pitch charts from the 2022 and 2023 outings against the White Sox highlights the difference in both attack mode and execution.
“He came into camp on a mission,” said Walker. “He worked hard this off-season on his physical conditioning, strengthening and some delivery stuff, but for the most part it’s really been his game plan. We’re sticking to something in particular, he’s really bought in and he feels really good about the plan. He’s executing his pitches extremely well. There are still some mistakes, but for the most part they’re minimized. It’s the whole game – the mix and him getting his fastball to the right spots.”
The other element helping in the process is that the Blue Jays aren’t constantly troubleshooting and adapting the way, out of necessity, they did last year. Berrios made some adjustments over the winter and has since “been trusting my process,” even when the results weren’t immediately there.
“I’ve been working so hard from last year, believe me, guys,” he added. “Finally, all the hard work is paying off.”
That’s no doubt a relief for Berrios as much as it’s heartening for a Blue Jays team that needs him pitching like the ace he can be.
“In the entire time he’s been here this is probably the best I’ve felt for him,” said Walker. “He feels on top of his game, he feels confident, he loves where he’s at right now. Obviously last year was a difficult year, but watching him put it behind him, focus on the season and make some adjustments has been really awesome.”
