José Berríos

BIOGRAPHY

José Orlando Berríos was born on May 27, 1994, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. He is a starting pitcher in the MLB.

The Minnesota Twins selected Berríos in the first round of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft with the 32nd pick. He made his professional debut that season for the Gulf Coast Twins of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and was promoted to the Elizabethton Twins of the Rookie-level Appalachian League in August. In 30.2 innings pitched between both teams, he was 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA, striking out 49.

During the 2013 season, Berríos played for the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Class A Midwest League where he was 7-7 with a 3.99 ERA in 19 starts. Berríos started 2014 with the Fort Myers Miracle of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. He was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game in July. After going 9-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 16 starts, he was promoted to the New Britain Rock Cats of the Class AA Eastern League on July 7. In eight starts for New Britain, he pitched to a 3-4 record and 3.54 ERA. He also played in one game for the Rochester Red Wings of the Class AAA International League at the end of the season.

Berríos began the 2015 season with the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Class AA Southern League, and received another midseason promotion to Rochester. In 27 combined starts between the two clubs, he posted a 14-5 record and 2.87 ERA. He started the 2016 season with Rochester.

The Twins promoted Berríos to make his major league debut on April 27, 2016. In 18 innings pitched for Rochester prior to his promotion, he was 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA and 20 strikeouts. He was recalled and optioned multiple times during the season. In 14 starts for Minnesota, he was 3-7, and in 17 starts for Rochester, he was 10-5 with a 2.51 ERA.

Berríos began 2017 with Rochester. After going 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA in six starts there, he was promoted to the Twins on May 13, where he spent the remainder of the season. In 26 games (25 starts) with Minnesota, he was 14-8 with a 3.89 ERA.

Berríos began 2018 in Minnesota's starting rotation and made his first start of the 2018 season on April 1, 2018. He pitched a complete game three-hit shutout (the first of his career) against the Baltimore Orioles, with 6 strikeouts, leading the Twins to a 7-0 win. Berrios tied his career high 11 strikeouts on April 12, 2018 in a 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. On April 18, 2018 Berríos finished with five strikeouts and no walks in seven scoreless innings for Minnesota in a game played in his native Puerto Rico before a sold out crowd at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Berrios became only the second Puerto Rican pitcher to start a regular-season MLB game at Hiram Bithorn; the first being Javier Vazquez, who made four starts there in 2003 with the Montreal Expos. His second career complete game came on June 7th against the Chicago White Sox, he became the 9th Twins pitcher to pitch a complete game and strikeout at least 10 batters without allowing a walk.

Owning an 8-7 record with a 3.54 ERA over 18 starts, Berríos was named to the 2018 MLB All-Star Game. He was the only Twin selected to participate in the all-star game. In the All-Star Game, Berríos pitched one scoreless 5th inning, earning a hold in the game. Berríos finished the season with 12-11 record with a 3.84 ERA and 202 strikeouts over 32 starts, leading the league in complete games and complete game shutouts.

On March 5, 2019, it was reported that Berrios would start opening day against the Cleveland Indians. He went 7.2 innings and had 10 strikeouts while not allowing a run. He received the win and the Minnesota Twins won 2-0. On July 3, 2019 it was announced on that Berríos would participate in the 2019 MLB All-Star Game.

On July 30, 2021, Berrios was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson.

On November 16, 2021, Berríos agreed to a seven-year, $131 million extension with the Blue Jays. The deal was made official on November 18, 2021.

In 2022, he was 12-7 with a 5.23 ERA, as hitters batted .288 against him with an .804 OPS, the highest average and OPS in MLB against any qualified pitcher.