Connection on farm with Holt paying off now for Cionel Pérez

Orioles lefty reliever Cionel Pérez, who is having a big year out of the bullpen, was a member of the high Single-A Buies Creek Astros in 2017. He pitched in just 25 1/3 innings for that team, but his pitching coach was Chris Holt. The same guy who is Baltimore's pitching coach now.

Pérez remembered today that Holt helped him, and having Holt here made his transition to his new team easier this year. He made the Baltimore roster out of spring training this year after the Orioles claimed him, via waivers, from the Reds in November.

“He has been a big help,” Pérez said today through O’s interpreter Brandon Quinones about Holt. “Now that we are both here together he keeps me in check with my movement on the ball and if something is off with my delivery, he lets me know that and we work together with getting on the same page. Plus we are a big team here within the bullpen and if anyone notices something is off with another pitcher in delivery or whatever, we let each other know.”

I asked Pérez if Holt had a hand in bringing him to Baltimore?

“In reality I don’t know if he played any part in the Orioles getting me, but I’m really thankful and grateful that I’m here. Especially with the year I’m having and the team is having a lot of fun. Been a great year so far,” he said.

The O’s Mike Elias was on the Houston staff in 2016 when they signed Pérez out of the Cuban pro league for a bonus of $5.15 million. That was reduced to $2 million when the team had concerns about an arm issue.

For the Orioles, Pérez has allowed just one run and 15 hits over 16 1/3 innings with seven walks to 17 strikeouts. His fastball is averaging 96 mph and touched 97.5 in the game last night when he threw 1 1/3 scoreless, coming on in the fifth inning to protect a lead at that time of 3-2.

“For me this year, the biggest key has been my control. Just my control of all my pitches and you know commanding them into strike zone. Control was the biggest thing for me to work on in the offseason, controlling the movement and the way I use them to attack the strike zone. Last season I struggled with that in the majors and needed to work on that in the offseason.”

Pérez said analytics has played a part in his improved velocity this season.

“Based on some studies they did on me, they found a big key to my high velocity was explosiveness that comes from my hips. So, pairing that with the velocity from my arm (speed), pairing those together, that helped me get the big velocity in my pitches."

And Pérez really appreciates manager Brandon Hyde showing confidence in him.

“It means a lot to me. This is the first time in the big leagues that a manager has displayed that much confidence in me. Whenever they call me I’m always ready to go. It’s been great and really happy that he is showing that much confidence in me," said Pérez.