Jose Berrios: Salary, Stats, Family, and Career Overview

Toronto Blue Jays right-hander José Berríos—nicknamed “La Makina”—has built a solid MLB career since debuting in 2016, signing a seven-year, $131 million extension with Toronto in November 2021 after just two months with the club. This article covers his salary structure, career stats, family life, and connections to other players, drawing on official team sources, league data, and verified media reports.

Last checked: 2026-06-13

Full name: José Orlando Berríos ·
Nickname: La Makina ·
Born: May 27, 1994, Bayamón, Puerto Rico ·
Position: Starting pitcher, Toronto Blue Jays ·
Debut: April 27, 2016, Minnesota Twins ·
Height / Weight: 6 ft 0 in, 205 lb

Who Is Jose Berrios’s Wife and Sister?

Berrios is married to a woman named Paola, though she maintains a low public profile and few additional details about her background have been confirmed in major media. The couple have three children together, a fact Berrios himself highlighted when explaining his decision to commit to Toronto long-term. He told reporters in November 2021 that he and his wife agreed their children would enjoy living in Canada after she spent several weeks with him in Toronto during the 2021 season (Sportsnet).

Does Jose Berrios have a sister?

Yes, he reportedly has at least one sister, but her name and public profile are not widely documented. Berrios has not featured her prominently in his public-facing family narrative, which tends to centre on his wife and children.

The bottom line: Berrios keeps his extended family circle largely private. His wife Paola and their three children are the family members he references most in interviews, and their comfort in Toronto was a decisive factor in his contract extension.

What Is Jose Berrios’s Salary and Net Worth?

Berrios’s seven-year, $131 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, signed in November 2021, structures his earnings as follows: a $5 million signing bonus paid in two installments, plus base salaries of $10 million (2022), $15 million (2023), $17 million (2024), $18 million (2025), $18 million (2026), $24 million (2027), and $24 million (2028) (ESPN). The deal includes an opt-out clause after the 2026 season, allowing him to forgo the final two years and $48 million to test free agency.

A wage-tracking database lists Berrios’s annual baseball income at roughly $18 million, which aligns with the mid-range years (2025–2026) of his Blue Jays contract (WageIndicator Foundation). Estimated net worth, based on cumulative MLB earnings and endorsements, falls in the $30–40 million range, though no itemized breakdown of off-field income is publicly available.

How does his salary compare on the Blue Jays payroll?

Berrios’s $17 million base salary in 2024 placed him fourth highest on the active Blue Jays roster, behind Kevin Gausman, George Springer, and Chris Bassitt. The lowest-paid player on the team typically earns near the MLB minimum, which was $740,000 in 2024.

What this means: Berrios’s contract is a mid-rotation anchor deal—high enough to reflect his track record, structured to give Toronto cost certainty, and including an opt-out that gives him upside if he out-performs in 2025–2026.

Does Jose Berrios Have Any Kids?

Yes, Berrios has three children—a son and two daughters, based on his public remarks. He cited his family’s happiness in Toronto as a primary reason for signing the long-term extension rather than waiting for free agency. “I have three kids and my wife, [and] I feel really comfortable spending the next seven years here in this city,” he told reporters after the deal was announced (CBC).

That family-first framing was echoed by Canadian media, who emphasized that Berrios’s wife spent several weeks with him in Toronto during the 2021 season and that the family collectively decided life in Canada suited them long-term.

“I have three kids and my wife, [and] I feel really comfortable spending the next seven years here in this city.”

— Jose Berrios, to CBC reporters after signing his extension, November 2021

The implication: Berrios’s family life is not a sidebar to his career—it was a stated driver of his most significant professional decision. That makes his personal and professional narratives unusually intertwined for a MLB free-agency story.

How Are Jose Berrios and Javy Baez Related?

Berrios and Chicago Cubs infielder Javier “Javy” Baez are not blood relatives. They are close friends who grew up in the same baseball circles in Puerto Rico and have played together in winter ball. Both attended the same high school baseball showcases and have been photographed together at events, but no familial connection has been reported by credible sources (Wikipedia). The “cousins” rumor appears to stem from their shared Puerto Rican heritage and visible friendship, not an actual family bond.

The trade-off: While the Baez-Berrios friendship is genuine, conflating close friendship with kinship can create a misleading narrative. The two are not related; they are peers who came up through the same baseball pipeline.

How Is Jose Berrios Doing? Recent Performance and Health

In 2024, Berrios posted a 3.94 ERA with a 10–12 record and 154 strikeouts over 184 innings for the Blue Jays. His 8.9 strikeouts per nine innings for his career remains solid, and his 2024 walk rate (2.5 BB/9) was a slight improvement over his career average (MLB.com).

Berrios has been largely durable throughout his career, making at least 30 starts in five of his eight full seasons. His most recent injury concern came in 2023 when he missed a start with elbow soreness, but he did not require a stint on the injured list for that issue. 토론토 블루제이스의 우완 투수 호세 베리오스에 대한 연봉, 통계, 가족 및 경력 개요를 토론토 호텔 숙박 비교에서 확인하세요.

Over his first 12 starts with Toronto in 2021, after the trade from Minnesota, he posted a 5–4 record and a 3.58 ERA, helping the team’s late-season push. That sample was enough to convince the Blue Jays front office to pursue a long-term deal rather than wait for free agency (CBC).

What to watch: Berrios enters 2025 as a mid-rotation staple for Toronto. His 2024 ERA of 3.94 was his best since 2021 (3.52 with Minnesota), suggesting he has stabilized after a rougher 2022 (5.23 ERA). If he sustains that level, the opt-out after 2026 becomes a real leverage point.

Jose Berrios Career Stats and Milestones

Across his MLB career (2016–2024), Berrios has pitched in 264 games (all starts) with a 108–82 record, a 4.08 ERA, and 1,444 strikeouts over 1,555 innings (Wikipedia). He was a two-time All-Star with the Minnesota Twins (2018, 2019) and received Cy Young Award votes in 2018 when he went 12–11 with a 3.84 ERA and 202 strikeouts.

His last game of the 2024 season (a no-decision against the Miami Marlins on September 29) saw him pitch 5.2 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk. That start was emblematic of his 2024 pattern: solid length, moderate run prevention, and enough strikeouts to keep his team in the game.

The Blue Jays acquired Berrios from the Minnesota Twins in late July 2021, when he had one and a half seasons of team control remaining before free agency. Minnesota received a package of prospects including right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson and shortstop Austin Martin (Sportsnet).

The pattern: Berrios has been a durable, mid-rotation innings-eater for most of his career, with two All-Star seasons as his ceiling. The Blue Jays are paying for consistency and leadership, not ace-level dominance.

Comparable Blue Jays starters

For context on where Berrios fits within Toronto’s rotation, here is how he compares to three other Blue Jays pitchers on a few key metrics:

Berrios slots in as the third-highest-paid starter in Toronto’s rotation, behind Gausman and Bassitt, and ahead of Kikuchi (who left for the Los Angeles Angels in free agency after 2024). His career ERA is comparable to Gausman’s, though Gausman generates more strikeouts. The Twins, after trading Berrios, effectively replaced his salary slot with Sonny Gray, whose 2022 salary was similar but came with an extra season of team control—a cost-control move that reflected Minnesota’s front-office priorities (Twins Daily).

Why Berrios is a key pitcher for Toronto

Among Toronto’s rotation, Berrios occupies a specific niche: a durable right-hander who takes the ball every fifth day and provides a reliable innings base. He is not the strikeout ace Gausman is, nor the ground-ball specialist Bassitt can be, but his ability to throw 180-plus innings while keeping his team in the game has value. His contract, with an opt-out after 2026, also gives him personal incentive to maintain or improve his performance over the next two seasons.

For Blue Jays fans, Berrios represents a mid-rotation stabilizer—the kind of pitcher who can win Game 3 of a playoff series if he is on, and who rarely gets blown out early. For fantasy baseball owners, he offers a reliable source of innings, strikeouts, and wins on a team that expects to contend.

Related reading: New York Yankees Players – 2024 Roster, Lineup, Stats

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