The Orioles Struck Waiver Gold Last November

The final time left-hander Cionel Perez was tagged on a submit at MLBTR was 11 months in the past, when the Orioles introduced they’d claimed him off waivers from the Reds. Ditto righty Bryan Baker, whom the Orioles claimed from the Blue Jays two weeks prior. They have been the definition of innocuous offseason strikes on the time: a last-place staff claiming a pair of little-known relievers who’d been waived by non-playoff golf equipment performing garden-variety 40-man roster upkeep. The strikes have been met with the anticipated cynicism related to waiver claims of this ilk.

On the time, it wasn’t wholly clear whether or not both would even survive the offseason on Baltimore’s 40-man roster. Perez was out of minor league choices, so he’d need to win an enormous league spot throughout Spring Coaching or else be subjected to waivers a second time. It’s by no means unusual for fringe 40-man gamers in that spot to finally be designated for project when a staff indicators a free agent, acquires a longtime participant by way of commerce, or claims another person on waivers.

Fortuitously for the O’s, each Perez and Baker certainly survived the winter on their 40-man roster. Perez fired six shutout innings with simply three hits and two walks towards seven strikeouts through the truncated Spring Coaching. Baker tossed 4 innings of one-run ball. Each discovered their method onto the Opening Day roster. Previous to this 12 months, Perez had pitched to a 6.04 ERA in 50 2/3 MLB innings, together with a 6.38 mark in 2021. Baker had one MLB inning to his title.

Earlier than lengthy, Perez discovered himself constructing a powerful begin to his 2022 season, nevertheless, solidifying his maintain on a spot in Brandon Hyde’s bullpen. He opened the 12 months with 9 2/3 shutout frames, and whereas an 8-to-4 Ok/BB ratio alongside the way in which was a bit much less spectacular, he adopted that sturdy first month with seven extra innings of one-run ball and an 8-to-2 Ok/BB ratio. By the point the Orioles’ sport on June 1 drew to an in depth, Perez had pitched 16 2/3 innings with a 0.55 ERA, a 25.8% strikeout price, a ten.6% stroll price and a 51.2% ground-ball price.

Alongside the way in which, Perez more and more started to include a brand new pitch into his repertoire: an influence sinker that averaged a hearty 96.6 mph. He’d by no means thrown a sinker in a Main League sport earlier than, and Perez used the providing sporadically via the season’s first three months, solely flashing it 9.6% of the time. In mid-July, nevertheless, Perez dedicated to the pitch extra decisively, and from July 16 via season’s finish he used that new sinker at a 22.4% clip. His four-seamer, which he’d beforehand thrown 52.4% of the time, noticed its utilization price dip to 36.9%.

Perez posted a glowing ERA each pre-sinker and post-sinker, however the secondary numbers recommend that Perez’s success with the sinker was extra sustainable than with out. As soon as he leaned extra closely into the brand new pitch, he fanned 25.2% of his opponents, walked 9.0% of them, induced grounders at a 52.8% price and yielded an 88.2 mph common exit velocity. Prior, these charges have been 22%, 8.9%, 50% and 89.6 mph. The features weren’t Earth-shattering, however Perez’s outcomes have been higher as soon as he gained extra consolation together with his new pitch. Seventy % of the sinkers that have been put into play towards Perez have been grounders.

Good as Perez was in 2022, there’s possible some regression in retailer. His .284 common on balls in play isn’t particularly lucky, however few pitchers can maintain marks as little as Perez’s 0.31 HR/9 and 4.3% homer-to-flyball ratio. He’s additionally unlikely to proceed stranding 87.4% of his runners shifting ahead — a price that ranked ninth in MLB (min. 50 innings) behind a group of a few of the sport’s most proficient strikeout artists. Nonetheless, there’s not a lot about his 2022 season that portends an entire implosion subsequent 12 months.

Baker took the other route of Perez, getting hit laborious and hit typically early in his first prolonged take a look at the MLB stage. Via June 19, he’d been tagged for a grisly 5.60 ERA in 27 1/3 innings of bullpen work. The O’s opted to stay with him somewhat than possibility him to Triple-A, nevertheless, they usually’re possible fairly glad they did.

Baker threw his changeup lower than 10% of the time in these first two-plus months however greater than doubled his utilization to 21.4% from late June via season’s finish. In the meantime, he continued to up his fastball velocity, averaging 97.3 mph over the ultimate few months after sitting simply 95.2 mph via his first 27 1/3 innings. From June 24 via season’s finish, Baker posted a 2.13 ERA, 29.6% strikeout price and eight.9% stroll price.

It’s an open query whether or not he can maintain the rate features he picked up through the season, however his changeup was a devastating out pitch for him down the stretch. Baker completed off 48 plate appearances with a changeup in 2022, surrendering solely two hits (each singles) and racking up 25 strikeouts within the course of. Statcast credit him with a hearty 37.7% whiff price on the pitch and provides his opponents credit score for an anticipated wOBA of simply .123. Hitters averaged simply 83.1 mph off the bat once they put Baker’s changeup in play — with 55% of these batted balls taking the type of grounders.

Neither Perez nor Baker will draw the fanfare of up-and-coming Baltimore stars like Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, however that doesn’t imply they’ll’t fill key roles because the staff seems to be to proceed its emergence from an arduous rebuild. Perez is controllable for one more 4 seasons, and Baker could be managed for 5 extra years. There’s some apparent volatility on the subject of year-over-year efficiency with relievers, so maybe Perez and/or Baker will come crashing again to Earth sooner or later. For now, nevertheless, the O’s have what seems to be like a pair of setup males they acquired at no cost — a high quality lefty/righty combo that’ll assist to type a bridge to fellow out-of-the-blue breakout Felix Bautista.

Remember that this is identical Orioles staff that traded one other waiver wire All-Star, Jorge Lopez, previous to the Aug. 2 commerce deadline. Constructing high quality bullpens has confirmed to be an Achilles heel for numerous entrance workplaces, however not less than for the 2022 season, the O’s made it look downright straightforward. Their capacity to proceed doing so may nicely be as essential to turning the tide because the arrival of lots of the system’s vaunted high prospects.