Berríos set to visit doctor after MRI shows 'small changes' to initial injury

TORONTO -- A difficult year has taken another bad turn for José Berríos, who will meet with Dr. Keith Meister on Tuesday for an in-person evaluation.

Berríos has been rehabbing from a stress fracture in his right elbow, but it’s more accurate to say that Berríos is “pitching through” the issue, which was discovered in March, when he underwent a routine MRI exam for insurance purposes for the World Baseball Classic.

The MRI exam Berríos underwent on Tuesday showed some inflammation and “small changes to that initial injury,” manager John Schneider said on Friday, so the Blue Jays want to get him in a room with Meister, who’s become too familiar of a name to Toronto fans in recent years.

“The last two outings, his velo was down and he was a little sore after his last one, in particular,” Schneider said. “We were hoping his last one would be a turning point the other way, but it kind of just stayed the same. That’s where you go, ‘OK, let’s see if something is going on physically.’ Everything seemed to be trending in the right direction until the last two.”

Berríos was hit hard over the two recent outings in Triple-A that Schneider mentions here. On Sunday, he allowed seven runs and three homers over just 3 2/3 innings. His velocity was worrying, too, hovering just above 90 mph. Berríos has never been a flamethrower, but when he’s been at his best, he typically lives closer to 94 mph.

This has been a frustrating stretch for Berríos, who ended the 2025 season with the first IL stint of his big league career. Then, Berríos chose to be away from the Blue Jays during the World Series while on the IL, which he publicly apologized for earlier in Spring Training. Now facing a meeting with Meister, who is the last man any pitcher wants to see, this all feels so detached from the identity Berríos built throughout his career.

For nearly a decade, Berríos was one of the most reliable pitchers in Major League Baseball, a lock to make 32 starts each season and give you 185 innings. He always felt like a bit of a throwback, which is how he earned the ‘La Makina’ persona -- the machine -- earlier in his career with the Twins before coming to the Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays could certainly use a healthy Berríos, given the injuries to Max Scherzer, Cody Ponce and Shane Bieber. Berríos was on track to take Eric Lauer’s rotation spot next time through the rotation, but for the time being, it seems that Lauer will get a shot to run with it again. Scherzer may be the closest of the bunch to returning, but he received a cortisone shot on Thursday and won’t throw for the next five days, so even in a best-case scenario, he’ll need time to ramp back up.

Berríos has a player opt-out clause in his contract following the season, but he is owed $24 million in both 2027 and ‘28 beyond that. If these health issues continue, it clearly makes sense for Berríos to stay with the Blue Jays and the remaining guarantees on his deal. All of the good Berríos has done with this organization, including taking the ball on Opening Day three times, cannot be washed away by the past eight months, but they’ve been challenging for both him and the organization. Next week, we’ll learn which challenges still lie ahead.