DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Two months of José Berríos was great, but to truly appreciate his talent and impact, you’ll need to see a full season.

With 192 or more innings in each of his last three full seasons, Berríos brings a level of consistency rarely found in modern pitching. Add in the quality of those innings, and you have one of the league’s premier arms at just 27 years old, still fully in his prime.

The Puerto Rican right-hander is fresh off a seven-year, $131 million extension this past offseason. He’ll lead a Blue Jays rotation alongside Kevin Gausman that includes Hyun Jin Ryu, Alek Manoah and Yusei Kikuchi, who just agreed to terms on a three-year, $36 million deal with the club, according to a source. Depth is one thing, but high-end depth is what gets teams deep into October.

Berríos has been throwing, but his early priorities at the club's new complex in Dunedin are much more basic. Lauded as one of the league’s finest teammates, Berríos wants to learn the names and earn the respect of everyone at the facility, not just the players in uniform.

“I’m still new here,” Berríos explained Sunday. “I just spent two months in Toronto last year, but now we finally have time to meet every member of our staff, the Minor League players and Minor League coaches. I want to meet everyone, because I’m going to spend my next seven years here. I want to familiarize myself with them and enjoy every moment.”

Berríos spent his offseason back in Puerto Rico, as he typically does, and started to throw bullpen sessions in January. By mid-February, he’d relocated to Florida to be ready the moment the lockout ended, and threw two live batting practice sessions to hitters prior to arriving at camp for the first time on Friday.

This isn’t a “normal” buildup for pitchers by any means, but Berríos likes where he’s at. Given the short camp and a tight regular-season schedule with added doubleheaders to fit in the full 162 games, it’s likely you’ll see teams get creative with their pitching through April. This could mean bulk relievers or the odd No. 6 starter being worked in, but Berríos is ready for what’s asked of him.

“For me, I’m a competitive guy,” Berríos said. “If you ask me and gave me the choice, I can go out there and throw 90 or 100 pitches in the first start of the season. Everything is going to depend on how [pitching coach] Pete [Walker] and [manager] Charlie [Montoyo] see me. They have a plan. We’ll figure that out and execute it.”

Given Berríos’ consistency, his camps tend to be about minor tinkers. He’s always controlled the zone well with his fastball and boasts an exceptional breaking ball -- a midway point between a slider and a curve that he calls a “slurve” -- so he can be more conceptual with how he approaches these next few weeks.

“Always, a pitcher wants to throw harder. Being healthy is very important,” Berríos said, “but right now, I want to work on my delivery and use my body the right way. I want to use my legs and do less but get more. Less effort, more power and quality.”

Having Berríos atop this group of five starters is a dream start for Montoyo. Beyond that, he’ll also have Nate Pearson, Ross Stripling, Thomas Hatch, Bowden Francis, Zach Logue and others. Some will be kept strictly in starter’s roles while others will be hybrid or “bulk” options, but it’s a luxury either way. If you’ve heard Montoyo say it once, you’ve heard it 1,000 times: He can never have enough pitching depth.

In Berríos, the potential Opening Day starter, it’s easy to pencil in 32 starts with an ERA in the range of 3.74, his overall mark since 2017. That’s more than enough for this offense to work with, especially if another big addition is waiting around the corner.