Jose Berrios to undergo elbow surgery amid fears he’ll miss balance of season

The fall of the Jays' opening day starter in 2025 is stunning

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Published May 16, 2026  •  2 minute read

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Jose Berrios throws during the first inning of a game against the Miami Marlins on Aug. 23, 2025, in Miami. Photo by Jim Rassol /The Associated Press

The bad news keeps getting worse for Jose Berrios, who has done nothing to deserve all this stress and grief.

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From the moment he visited renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister in Texas, impending doom seemed to be on the horizon.

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It officially arrived in the hours prior to first pitch Saturday at Comerica Park where Blue Jays manager John Schneider dropped the Berrios bomb as surgery awaits the veteran right-hander who was Toronto’s opening day starter last season.

Depending on the surgery, which is scheduled Wednesday, it’s too premature to speculate how long Berrios will be shelved.

In a best-case scenario, his timeline might be similar to that of Tigers staff ace Tarik Skubal, who underwent a successful minimally invasive arthroscopic procedure to remove a loose body from his left elbow.

Skubal has resumed a throwing program.

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Berrios also dealing with a stress fracture

Berrios and the Jays are in danger of being thrown for a loop if more meaningful repair in his right elbow is warranted.

In this scenario plays out, it’s all but certain Berrios won’t pitch for the balance of the season.

Besides the loose bodies in his elbow, Berrios is dealing with a stress fracture.

When he attempted to play for his native Puerto Rico at the World Baseball Classic, an imaging revealed elbow inflammation.

Suffice to say it has been a very trying season for Berrios, an unfortunate run that began just prior to last fall’s run by the Blue Jays.

Wednesday’s surgery will deal with the existing stress fracture.

Once they go inside the elbow, a closer look of the ligament will be initiated, which is when the worst-case scenario becomes a real possibility.

“There may be some ligament stuff going on,’’ Schneider told the assembled media in Motown. “They’re going to figure that out when they’re in there.”

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Jays’ starters facing unrelenting adversity since spring training

Adversity to the Jays’ starters struck way back in spring training and it’s been unrelenting, beginning in the opening series against the visiting Athletics when newly signed Cody Ponce injured his knee in his debut with the club.

The righty underwent surgery and is out for the season.

Max Scherzer remains unavailable as does Shane Bieber, while Trey Yesavage is in the early stages of his return to the mound having started in Friday night’s series opener against the Tigers, who walked off the Jays in a 3-2 win.

Interestingly, word is Adam Macko has been added to the Jays’ taxi squad.

He was said to be in the Motor City and in fact had a locker inside the Jays’ clubhouse.

The Jays have benefited from the presence of veteran Patrick Corbin, who was signed when starters began to drop like flies.

Toronto’s need for arms is quite obvious.

In Saturday’s matchup, the team went with an opener in Mason Fluharty.

Eric Lauer wasn’t in the Jays’ plans to begin with, but necessity forced their hands.

Lauer responded in pitching a gem in his first start, but his production dipped to the point where the club DFAed the lefty.

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