Pérez finds hidden talent in the bullpen

This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles’ bullpen is typically filled with hijinks and lighthearted antics throughout every game, and particularly before it’s time for the relievers to go to work.

Cionel Pérez plays a game of his own in the ‘pen, especially while stationed in the one at Camden Yards: He attempts to catch home run balls.

“Any time the guys get up to the plate, we’re always expecting them to hit it out of the ballpark,” Pérez said via interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I’m always the first one that gets up and tries to catch the ball whenever it’s up in the air.”

The 28-year-old left-hander has become quite good at it, too.

Baltimore’s home bullpen is located in left-center field, so it’s in a prime spot for right-handed hitters to slug balls over the wall. But lefty hitters can muscle them that way as well, like Colton Cowser did on June 27.

During the Orioles’ 11-2 series-opening win over the Rangers, Cowser hit a 411-foot homer to left-center. Pérez saw it coming toward the ‘pen, quickly hopped up from his seat, took his hat off his head, ranged a few feet to his right and then used the cap to make a picture-perfect snag.

Bullpen catcher Ben Carhart and closer Craig Kimbrel both raised their arms in celebration. Joel Polanco, another bullpen catcher, started clapping his hands. Right-hander Yennier Cano smiled while giving Pérez a point of acknowledgement.

“Sometimes, the ball will hit his hat and either the ball will pop out or his hat will fall,” Cano said via Quinones. “But that night in particular, he told me that he was really happy that he caught it, because there’s a part of the hat that opens up, and so the ball landed perfectly into that spot. So he was really happy. He was running around like a little kid after he caught it.”

It wasn’t Pérez’s first bullpen homer catch in his seven-year big league career, or even his first one this season. The Orioles lead the Majors with 139 home runs in 2024, so Pérez is getting plenty of opportunities.

On June 11, Jorge Mateo slugged a three-run homer off Braves left-hander Max Fried during the second inning of a 4-0 Orioles win. The 402-foot blast was headed for the far-left side of Baltimore’s bullpen, where it seemed like nobody would catch it.

But Pérez can cover ground quickly out there. He jumped up, scurried over to get into a better position and caught the homer in his hat.

On April 21, 2023, Pérez nearly caught an Austin Hays homer, but the ball deflected off his hat, as it proved to be just out of his reach. The next day, Pérez got home run redemption, as he completed a low grab on a James McCann long ball.

The other relievers in the Orioles’ bullpen always get a laugh out of Pérez’s high-effort chases -- and his reactions when he’s successful.

“He looks as if he were the one that hit the home run or he made some spectacular play, just because he caught the home run ball,” Cano joked. “So it’s always pretty funny.”

Does Pérez, who finished the season with seven hat catches, have any tips or tricks for catching homer balls now that he has several on his highlight reel?

“Not really anything to it,” Pérez said. “Just whenever I see the ball go out there, I try to catch the ball.”

Seems simple enough. But not every reliever tries to do it.

In fact, Cano knows he couldn’t replicate any of Pérez’s grabs, so the 30-year-old setup man doesn’t typically even try to do so.

“Not really. I’m really bad at catching fly balls,” Cano said with a smile. “My thing is more fielding grounders.”