MIAMI – In the days late last month when Roberto Osuna first experienced strange feelings off the field that prevented him from performing on it, the young Toronto Blue Jays closer found people from across the organization offering to help.

The person he leaned on most?

“Jason Grilli,” Osuna says without a moment of hesitation. “I got support from all my teammates. Russell Martin was one of the biggest guys, too. But Jason Grilli spent all day and all night with me, telling me what to do to feel better, and he was a big help.”

The 22-year-old says the 40-year-old reliever who was traded to the Texas Rangers on July 2 “became like a second dad,” during their time together on the Blue Jays, and most critically was there for him through a period he describes as “absolutely really bad.”

“We were just talking about it and he was asking me how I was feeling and he told me he went through all those things when he was younger, my age, and he told me how to control that problem,” says Osuna. “He told me, ‘You need to control it before it controls you.’ That’s what was happening. Now I’m feeling much better. He got traded to Texas but we’re still talking and he’s been really, really good to me.”

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Osuna has made six appearances since he was unavailable for a June 23 game against the Kansas City Royals, allowing only three hits in six innings with 10 strikeouts, extending one of the most dominant stretches of his young career, and leading to his first all-star selection.

The last run he allowed came June 7 in Oakland, and he’s converted his last 21 save attempts, while posting career-bests in ERA (2.06), WHIP (0.714) and strikeouts per nine (12.1) so far. All that came after he opened the season on the disabled list with a neck issue that truncated his spring and led him to blow three of his first four save chances, allowing five runs on nine hits in six innings.

“I never doubted myself,” Osuna says. “I know what I can do and I wasn’t feeling great at the beginning of the season but I made adjustments and started feeling better. Since then, everything has been pretty good for me.”

On the mound, yes.

Off it, the primary challenge he’s dealt with has been with the issues that struck him in Kansas City, which led to an outpouring of support from the Blue Jays and fans all across the continent.

His decision to discuss things publicly was hailed by some as a way to help remove the stigma around mental health matters.

“I was just feeling lost, I didn’t feel like myself. I was feeling dizzy, I wasn’t sure where I was, all that kind of stuff. Really weird,” Osuna says of what he experienced. “I’m feeling way better right now, so hopefully I never go back and see those things again. …

“I wasn’t able to pitch for a couple of days so I decided to tell the people, I think they deserved to know what we got or what we go through in life off the field. I talked to them, they gave me their support so that was huge for me.”

The Blue Jays employ several people with a background to help in such situations, led by director of mental performance Paddy Steinfort, mental performance coaches Ben Freakley, and Rafael Dubois, and employee assistance program head Sam Lima. General manager Ross Atkins said in a recent interview that the team drew on resources “not just internally but externally, to make sure he’s OK.”

Osuna says he continues to address what he experienced by talking to various people and that part of the process has been “accepting that that’s the problem and learning how to control it.”

Within that, too, is understanding that despite a stretch in which he’s been nearly invincible on the mound, an athlete can still be vulnerable off the field of play.

“We’re human, we’re persons too, we’ve got our lives off the field and we always have a lot of things going on with us, on the field, off the field,” says Osuna. “I’m 22, so I just had a lot of things going on at the same time and it’s all part of it. A couple of my teammates told me we all go through that, it’s part of life.

“Now I feel better, I know how to control those things and I’m still working on it.”