Berríos begins rehab start, is expected to return shortly after Yesavage

MILWAUKEE -- While much of the attention has been on the upcoming return of Trey Yesavage, José Berríos is coming close behind.

Berríos made his first rehab start Thursday night with Single-A Dunedin, but is a bit more stretched out than some starters are when they begin an assignment. He got up to 47 pitches over 2 2/3 innings.

The first inning was hard on Berríos, who needed 30 pitches, but he ended his day with five runs allowed on five hits and a walk with three strikeouts. There’s nothing pretty about the line, but just like with Yesavage, the workload and pitch metrics are far more important here. Berríos checked both of those boxes, making good on the reports out of Blue Jays camp that he was sitting 94-95 mph.

Here’s a look at Berríos’ velocities and how they compared to his 2025 averages, which were a down year for him as he dealt with injuries. Note that this data is from Berríos’ first two innings only, as the system at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla., was down from the third inning on.

Velocities:

Four-seam fastball: 94.2 mph (1.2 mph up from 2025)
Sinker: 93.5 mph (up 1.3)
Slurve: 82.7 mph (up 0.1)
Changeup: 86 (up 0.8)

These are all encouraging numbers and paint the picture of a healthy Berríos, even though he’s pitching through a stress fracture in his right elbow. By all accounts, that injury sounds more serious than it is, given that Berríos has been cleared by doctors to pitch through the issue and has reported zero symptoms. The injury was only discovered because of an MRI for insurance purposes ahead of the World Baseball Classic. Otherwise, Berríos would have been in the Blue Jays’ rotation to open the season.

Looking ahead, it’s possible that Yesavage returns to the Blue Jays’ rotation next week in Los Angeles for their series against the Angels, but there are still so many moving parts involved here.

Eric Lauer has struggled in his last two outings, but it’s difficult to put much weight on those, given that he went through a rough path with a flu bug and didn’t have his normal velocity. Max Scherzer has been hit very hard, too, and is working around some forearm tendinitis in his throwing arm. Unexpected as this is, Patrick Corbin even has a case to stick in the rotation a bit longer after a strong performance Thursday in Milwaukee.

The only solution for all of these variables, though, is options. Berríos is on track to arrive back in the big leagues within the coming weeks, depending on whether he needs one, two or three more rehab appearances. The Blue Jays’ IL has been crowded enough this season, so they’re long overdue for some of these starters to be moving back in the other direction.