Berríos gets Opening Day nod for Twins

MINNEAPOLIS -- Much has changed in the world since mid-March, but one important fixture remains in Minnesota: José Berríos will still start Opening Day for the Twins, manager Rocco Baldelli announced Friday.

The announcement seemed like a foregone conclusion for much of Summer Camp, as Baldelli had previously announced that Berríos would open the season on the mound just before Spring Training came to a halt, but Berríos worked hard through the shutdown to earn the spot again.

"In this sport, nothing is easy, like people say," Berríos said. "You need to work. You need to go for it. Obviously, I'm a guy that likes working every day, so I kept doing my thing. They're going to see it. They will. That's why they named me the Opening Day starter."

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When the 26-year-old right-hander takes the mound against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday night, he will become the youngest pitcher to earn consecutive Opening Day nods for the Twins since Brad Radke's starts in 1996 and '97 began his run of nine such honors in the span of 10 years.

The return of baseball and the assumption of his place at the top of the Twins' pitching rotation will offer a welcome sense of normalcy for Berríos amid the relative tumult of the sport's shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic and his recent relocation back to Minnesota with his family.

"Always, when we have the opportunity to go out there and play, it's a great feeling," Berríos said. "Different feeling. Like I said, when we go and pitch on Opening Day, it's like when a young kid goes to the first day of school. So these times are different, but we need to create that atmosphere. We need to create that energy. We have the group to do that."

The hiatus might have helped Berríos a bit, anyway. Baldelli noted that the right-hander's velocity was up to 95-96 mph in his first live batting practice of camp, well above his average four-seam fastball velocity of 93.1 mph from last season. And more significantly, the shortening of the season to 60 games figures to bode well for Berríos, who has been a markedly worse performer in the second half throughout his career.

"I [was] doing some adjustments of my routine day by day so I would be in my best position at the end of the season. But right now, we only have a half a season, maybe less, so I don’t want to use any excuse or anything," Berríos said earlier in camp. "Just trying to be ready every game when I go out there and try to help my teammates win."

Normally, Berríos formulates and writes his goals for each full season in a notebook and measures his success by his ability to meet those standards. This time, his goals are simple in the 60-game sprint of the 2020 regular season.

First: Register a quality start in each of his appearances. Second: Win the World Series.

Simple enough.

"That’s the only two things I'll think about," Berríos said.

Berríos made his final tune-up start of camp on Saturday, when he was originally scheduled to pitch in an intrasquad game but ended up throwing six innings of batting practice instead due to inclement weather. He ramped up to 87 pitches in his outing, which seemingly leaves him in strong position to shoulder close to a full workload on Opening Day.

Berríos feels good. He feels ready. And despite the shortened build-up period to the season, he's confident the rest of his team will be, too.

"I was surprised and proud of how ready I see our team," Berríos said. "The hitters, the pitchers, we are working really well these past three weeks, and the way I’ve been saying it, this season is going to be fun. We have a lot of good things to do."