Blue Jays: Look for Berrios to bounce back from his Opening Day start

Tyson Shushkewich

TORONTO, ON - APRIL 08: Jose Berrios #17 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches during the first inning of their MLB game against the Texas Rangers on Opening Day at Rogers Centre on April 8, 2022 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images)

While the Blue Jays walked away from their Opening Day contest with a win against the Texas Rangers, starter Jose Berrios struggled out of the gate earlier, recording only one out on 34 pitches while allowing a home run, three hits, and two walks to the tune of four earned runs. In turn, manager Charlie Montoyo had to use seven bullpen arms to finish out the game, which is not the most ideal tactic to resort to so early in the season.

For Berrios, it’s as simple as he just didn’t have it that night. Maybe it was the jitters of Opening Day, maybe he was playing with his mechanics, maybe it was the shortened Spring Training campaign, but overall, it was not his finest performance.

The Puerto Rican product joined the Blue Jays at the trade deadline last season from the Minnesota Twins, with top prospects Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson heading the opposite way. He was fantastic for the club down the stretch, posting a 3.58 ERA through 12 starts with a 10.0 K/9, and the two sides agreed on a seven-year extension this past winter (with an opt-out after the fifth season).

After his rough Opening Day start, Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios looks to get back on track tonight in New York against the Yankees.

This past spring, Berrios did struggle through his three starts, allowing 15 hits and 10 earned runs through 15.0 innings, but as we all know, Spring Training stats don’t really matter, especially since this isn’t Berrios’s first time around the block. While posting an 11.55 ERA in Dunedin is certainly not ideal, it does make for some cause for concern heading into Opening Day, however, he is a veteran player and does have a set routine at this stage in his career.

Looking ahead, while it is only one game into the season, Berrios is in tough tonight against a New York Yankees squad that was producing a lot of hard contact against battery mate Yusei Kikuchi last evening.

For his career, the right-hander does not have the best track record at Yankee Stadium, with a 6.43 ERA through three starts and 14.0 innings, so he will be looking to buck that trend as well looking to bounce back from his Opening Day fiasco. In some good news though, the last time Berrios did face the Yankees in their home barn was last season with the Blue Jays, and it was a strong outing where he went 6.2 innings deep allowing only two earned runs while striking out eight.

Overall, the best thing for Berrios to do tonight against the Yankees is to throw strikes and let his defense help him out, as the group behind him has been putting on quite a performance early into the season. He will need to find the strike zone and can use that curveball to his advantage against the heavy right-handed hitters at the top of the lineup, but mainly, he just needs to settle in and pitch like the player the Blue Jays fans know he can be.

Tyson Shushkewich

Tyson Shushkewich grew up in a small farming community just east of Lethbridge, Alberta. He would leave this small town for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and attend Dalhousie University, graduating with a degree in Environmental Science and Biology. Now residing in Central Ontario with his wife, Tyson has been a fan of baseball since he was 10 years old when his dad took him to his first game in Toronto. When he is not writing articles, you can find him hiking in the forests, sitting in the upper deck of the Rogers Centre, tweeting about his baseball memorabilia, or watching the game with his cat Apollo and Beagle-mix Archie.