Berríos talks fatherhood, staying in Toronto

This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Father’s Day is this Sunday. If that’s news to you, then you might still have a gift card to buy or a phone call to schedule.

It will be a busy day at Rogers Centre, too. Following each game, many of the Blue Jays’ families gather near the clubhouse and there are kids everywhere you look. Some are playing baseball. Others are just picking a direction and sprinting, filled with far more energy than I have at 10:30 p.m.

It’s an extended family, particularly on a roster with so many young players or veterans who are signed to long-term deals. They’re settled in Toronto, and for many, that means raising a family here for at least six months of the season.

José Berríos, 28, has two young sons and a daughter. Some days, you’ll see his two boys out with him on the field hours before the games, watching closely as their father prepares for that night’s game. When Berríos signed his seven-year, $131 million extension with Toronto, a leading factor was the city he’d live in and how comfortable his family felt here.

“It’s special for me to have my kids with me around the team, in the clubhouse and on the field. The most important thing is the way they enjoy it. They want to be around my teammates. There are a lot of good people and good players in that clubhouse. It’s good when they grow up this way, seeing Major League players. For me, it means a lot. I usually try to spend the most time I can with them during the day. It’s going to help me, because right now, we’re on the road trip and they’re back home, so I don’t get to see them those days. That’s how it is in this life, but I want to keep enjoying it and show my kids what a good life it is, how we can get through work and prepare them to be great people in the future.”

On raising his children in Toronto:

“They know the city well. They love to walk around and they enjoy the city so far. They like being in Toronto. Now, they can do whatever they want. Yesterday, they went to a Little League ballpark and ran around.”

The young Blue Jays roster is full of new fathers:

“We talk with each other about it all the time. It’s a process. Every kid is different and has a different mind. You have to love them and enjoy the process.”

Are there any young pitchers in the Berríos family?

“Right now, they enjoy hitting, so I’ll let them hit.”