Jose Berrios pulls out his iPhone and scrolls through it for a minute or so. He's looking for a specific YouTube video to illustrate a story he just shared.
The video shows the house Berrios grew up in. Across the street is a baseball field that doubled as his second home. The distance from his front door to that diamond in Puerto Rico is an easy throw.
"I used to dream of being a bat boy," Berrios says in Spanish through translator Elvis Martinez. "If I'm a bat boy, I'm going to be part of a Major League Baseball team."
He smiles at the memory. He aimed a little low.
Barely 25 years old, Berrios has become an ace and is on the cusp of being one of the best pitchers in baseball in only his third full season in the Twins rotation. He ranks in the Top 15 of MLB starters in ERA, innings pitched and WHIP.
His nickname, "La Makina" _ The Machine _ isn't so much bragging as it is a description of Berrios' approach to his craft, and life in general. He is strictly business when it comes to pitching and preparing and wringing every ounce of potential from his 6-foot, 205-pound body and electric right arm.
He's a workout warrior year-round, except for three weeks right after each season when he allows himself a break. He maintains a meticulous diet, consuming only healthy foods, except for Day 2 between starts, which he calls "cheat days."
"I kill burgers and pizza," he says.
His personality is a marriage of confidence and humility. Fiercely determined to achieve greatness but assume nothing. Still a bat boy chasing a dream.
Every offseason he writes down his goals in a notebook. No. 1 on his list this season: Make the Opening Day roster.
Wait, make the team?
"I don't take anything for granted," he says. "At this level, you can play well today, but guess what, today is over. Tomorrow you have to do it again. So I don't get comfortable."
Berrios spends an hourlong breakfast interview alternating between Spanish and English in between bites of his omelet. Ask him about being a staff ace, and he deflects praise to the rest of the rotation. Ask him about his three young children, and he pauses and says, "You're going to make me cry." Ask him about the thrill of being drafted and making it to the majors, and he tells you that this "is not the end goal."
"He is an extremely mature person _ pitcher, person, all the way around," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli says. "You forget that he's still a very young guy. I consider him mature beyond his years."
