Orioles announced left-handed tonight Cionel Perez The immunity has been cleared and the direct mission of Triple-A Norfolk has been accepted. He will report to minors and use it as a future non-warehouse in-depth option.
Perez, 29, competed in the major leagues with the Astros in 2018. He ended up not having much run with the club, and in three seasons he had provided Houston with an up and down game for Houston in the club, where he published a 5.74 ERA in 26 2/3 innings. The Reds then followed in 2021 with an equally disappointing and brief game, but before the 2022 season, Perez was removed from the immunity by the Orioles and put its mixture into the bullpen for the coming year.
Once a club has been awarded regular representation, the club entered the year and Perez began to blossom. The Lefty is the best season of his career in 2022 as he entered 1.40 ERA (278 ERA+) with a 2.80 FIP at 57 2/3 frames. The three-point shooting percentage is 23.5% and the walking percentage is 9.0%, but what Perez really stands out is his ability to keep the ball in the park. It turns out that 51.3% ground ball rate is a big part of that, but Perez’s 4.3% home run to fly ball ratio seems unsustainable. It wasn’t surprising when his results regressed the following year, although he was still an effective reliefist for the 3.54 ERA and still had a 3.84 FIP on 65 appearances.
However, things got worse last year. Despite the fact that the perimeter count is usually the same or better than 2023, Perez’s 2024 season still keeps his ERA balloons reaching 4.53. Perez’s strikeout and walking rates have gradually declined over the past two years and are now down 19.3% and 11.8% respectively. While his 55.8% grounding rate and ability to avoid allowing home runs continue to inspire optimism about the possibility of returning to form in 2025, those hopes were quickly stunned by his early season performance. Perez entered the 8.31 ERA, with 5.71 FIP in the 21 2/3 of the innings working this year, and then Orioles decided to pull the plug last week.
Between these brutal results and the 2025 $2.2mm salary, there is little shock to no club choosing to collect waivers around and trying to help him improve his grades. Maybe in the offseason the club will see him as a low-cost recycling project, and he won’t bring such a expensive price, assuming he hasn’t turned around by then. For now, Perez’s idea is to try to reach triple level at the triple A level in hopes of being used in the major league bullpen again later this year. The struggling Orioles seem increasingly certain to sell at least some items on the trade deadline, so if the club fails to turn things around, then if Baltimore’s way of spreading the trade with some pitchers currently in the bullpen mix, Perez gets another chance after the trade deadline.
