Cuban pitcher Cionel Pérez received great news from the headquarters of the Baltimore Orioles, as the club decided to exercise the $2.2 million option on his new salary for the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) season, thus avoiding arbitration.
The left-handed reliever earned 1.1 million in arbitration last season, and the franchise chose to take this step and reward the player from Matanzas after another solid campaign, during which he did not allow any home runs in 53.2 innings, according to the exclusive reported by journalist Francys Romero.
On the social media platform Facebook, Romero mentioned that Cionel's fastball and sinker were clocked at about 96 miles per hour (mph), well above the MLB average of 93.0 mph.
The Cuban pitcher was a key part of the bullpen during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, achieving an ERA of 2.43 over 111 innings. However, in 2024, his effectiveness rose to 4.53, despite maintaining an excellent ground ball rate of 55.8 percent.
With the support of this movement and in light of potential restructurings, the Orioles are looking to enter 2025 with a competitive and flexible roster to tackle the upcoming challenges in their rotation and bullpen following the departure of Corbin Burnes and the elbow surgery that will sideline Kyle Bradish for several weeks.
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