'The Mountain' and 'The Rock': O's dynamic 'pen duo reunites

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Everybody in the Orioles’ organization missed Félix Bautista during the 2024 season, while the All-Star closer was recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Manager Brandon Hyde missed calling down to the bullpen to get the 6-foot-8, 285-pound right-hander up and warming. Teammates missed either playing behind Bautista or watching as he dominated opposing hitters.

Nobody missed Bautista more than fellow right-handed reliever Yennier Cano.

“Last year was very sad,” Cano said via team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “You would go like, ‘Damn, he’s not here.’”

Now, “The Mountain” is back, preparing for a 2025 season in which he will reclaim his closer’s role. The 29-year-old Bautista will pair with the 30-year-old Cano -- known as “The Rock” -- to again form one of the best nicknamed back-end bullpen duos in baseball.

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Bautista and Cano were both All-Stars in 2023, but there’s much more to the friendship between the two beyond the success they share on the field.

After Cano was traded from Minnesota to Baltimore on Aug. 2, 2022, he started to get to know his new teammates. The Cuban was already familiar with left-handed reliever Cionel Pérez (his fellow countryman), but he didn’t know too many others in the O’s organization.

It didn’t take long for Cano to hit it off with Bautista, who cited “his charisma and his sincerity” as traits that he liked about the new Orioles reliever.

“Very early on, I noticed just how humble he was, and those types of guys I tend to get close to,” Bautista said via Quinones. “From the moment he arrived, I would say there was a unique closeness to our friendship.”

Cano enjoyed Bautista’s sense of humor, which he showed in the bullpen, in the clubhouse and as the two spent time together off the field.

“Even though he’s very quiet, he’s very funny,” Cano said.

During the 2023 season, Bautista and Cano lived in the same apartment building. They carpooled to home games at Camden Yards together. They also would ride home together after arriving back in Baltimore after a road trip.

The conversations -- either in the car or elsewhere -- have always been about more than baseball. They also talk about life and families. They’re both dads: Bautista has a 5-year-old son named Xander and Cano has a soon-to-be 2-year-old son named Cristopher.

During Spring Training and before games throughout the season, Bautista and Cano often play pool together using the Dominican rules from Bautista’s homeland. There’s a bit of discrepancy regarding where the billiards rivalry currently stands, though.

“We’re still butting heads a little bit,” Cano said. “He was a little bit better, but I think I’ve gotten better so far this year.”

“Right now, I’m ahead of him,” Bautista rebutted.

There wasn’t as much pool played between the friends last year. As Bautista recovered from Tommy John surgery -- which he underwent in October 2023 -- he spent a considerable amount of time rehabbing at the Orioles’ complex in Sarasota.

Cano stayed in communication with Bautista, though, often calling him or messaging him through WhatsApp.

“When he started throwing again last year and pitching a little bit,” Cano said, “I would reach out and be like, ‘Hey, how are you feeling today? How did it go?’”

That meant quite a bit to Bautista.

“Hearing that from him, getting the support from him, from some of my other teammates as well,” Bautista said. “Hearing them say how much they missed me and all of those different things, it really helped me get more motivated and want to speed up my recovery process, just knowing that I had that support.”

Baltimore is taking it slow with Bautista this spring, but he is expected to be on the Opening Day roster. He’ll then try to recapture his form from 2023, when he had a 1.48 ERA and 33 saves in 56 appearances. Cano (who’s had a 2.58 ERA in 142 games over the past two seasons) should again be a key setup man.

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There will likely be plenty of times this year at Camden Yards when Cano will enter a game in the eighth to the sound of, “If ya smell ... what The Rock ... is cooking!” Then, a light show will occur in the ninth as Bautista enters to the tune of Omar’s whistle from “The Wire.”

“The Rock” and “The Mountain” will be a dominant duo once again.

“If I’m being honest,” Bautista said, “I really missed that.”

“It’s going to be great,” Cano said with a smile.