Former Minnesota Twins pitcher Jose Berríos has been enjoying a fine second act in his career with the Toronto Blue Jays. But in the past year, elbow injuries have clouded his reputation as a workhorse.
After missing Toronto’s run to the World Series last season, Berríos still hadn’t pitched for Toronto in 2026 due to “elbow inflammation.” The issue reached rock bottom when Toronto manager John Schneider told Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae that the right-hander underwent full Tommy John surgery on Wednesday and would miss the remainder of the year.
The surgery also puts a large portion of the 2027 season at risk and at age 31, Berrios could be at a crossroads as he works his way back to the mound.
Ex-Twin Jose Berríos’s elbow problems lead to Tommy John surgery
Berríos was having a solid year with the Jays, going 9-5 with a 4.17 ERA in 31 games (30 starts) when he first experienced elbow inflammation in September. Toronto shut down the right-hander through the postseason but after an offseason of rest, he was expected to be back on the mound for the start of the 2026 season.
Those plans were dashed when a physical exam for March’s World Baseball Classic revealed a stress fracture and lingering inflammation in his pitching elbow. While he worked his way back to start a minor league rehab assignment, he was pulled when the soreness returned and eventually required surgery to clean up “loose bodies” in his elbow. That surgery revealed damage to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and required doctors to perform the full Tommy John surgery to get him back to health.
“The bone in the elbow was on the ligament. Not ideal,” Schneider told Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “We kind of decided that when they go in there, if that’s compromised at all, we’ll fix it. It was. He’ll be down for 12 to 14 months.”
The injury is an outlier compared to how durable Berríos has been during his career. A first-round pick (32nd overall) by the Twins in the 2012 draft, Berríos debuted in 2016 and spent 5 ½ seasons with the Twins, going 55-43 with a 4.08 ERA, 779 strikeouts and 253 walks in 781.1 innings.
After a 2021 trade to Toronto, Berríos’s numbers have been virtually the same. He’s appeared in 139 games (138 starts) over the past five seasons and posted a 53-39 record and 4.09 ERA with 702 strikeouts and 220 walks in 790.1 innings.
With 1,571.2 innings under his belt and even more in the minor leagues, it’s impressive that Berríos went this long without going under the knife. But now set to miss all of this season and most of next season, it’s a challenge that Berríos will have to overcome at this stage of his career.
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