The Nationals have agreed to a minor-league deal with left-hander Cionel Perez, according to Francys Romero of Beisbol FR. Perez earns an invite to major-league Spring Training. He will earn $1.9MM if he makes the roster, with $700k in incentives, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Perez is represented by Octagon.
Perez is an eight-year big-league veteran. After stints with the Astros and Reds from 2018-21, he was claimed off waivers by the Orioles in November 2021 and subsequently earned a larger role. His first season in Baltimore was his best. Perez posted a shiny 1.40 ERA in 57 2/3 innings across 66 appearances in 2022. His expected stats weren’t quite as high on him, though his 3.63 xERA and 2.80 FIP still painted the picture of an above-average reliever. Perez excelled that year by keeping the ball in the park and getting plenty of groundballs. His 51.3% groundball rate was tied for 33rd among 152 qualified relievers that year. His 0.31 HR/9 rate was 11th-best.
Perez’s 2023-24 numbers were more serviceable than great. His strikeout and walk numbers both trended in the wrong direction from 2022, leaving him with a 7.2% K-BB rate. He still excelled at inducing grounders, with a 58.3% groundball rate across those two seasons (including a career-best 60.7% mark in 2023). Altogether, he posted a 4.04 ERA in 107 innings from 2023-24.
Batters teed off on Perez in 2025. In 19 appearances in the season’s first two months, he posted an ERA of 8.31 with an elevated 16.4% walk rate, his highest since 2021 with the Reds. More surprisingly, after allowing just four home runs in total from 2022-24, Perez allowed three in only 21 2/3 innings in 2025. A .379 BABIP and 3.93 xERA suggest he was the victim of bad luck, but his 5.77 FIP implied he was doing poorly independently of his defense. By the end of May, the Orioles had seen enough. Perez was designated off the 40-man roster and spent the rest of the year at Triple-A, pitching to a 6.85 ERA in 22 1/3 innings.
Despite the disappointing end to his Orioles tenure, a look at Perez’s Statcast page gives some reason for optimism. His fastball velocity, expected batting average, barrel rate, and groundball rate all would have ranked in the 71st percentile or better had he pitched enough to qualify. As recently as 2024, Perez’s slurve and sinker were above average pitches by run value. Opponents slugged just .282 and .314 against those pitches, respectively.
For the rebuilding Nats, there is no risk in bringing Perez into the fold of what is otherwise a young, inexperienced bullpen. Julian Fernandez and waiver claim Richard Lovelady are the only projected members with even two years of service time, per RosterResource. At the least, Perez is an experienced lefty with a high groundball rate who could turn into a trade candidate by the deadline if he rebuilds his value. Assuming he makes the roster, his $1.9MM salary would bring the Nationals’ payroll to $95.38MM and their luxury tax payroll to $118.18MM.
Photo by Daniel Cusin Jr., Imagn Images
If Perez can ever find his form again…but that is a big IF!
Savvy signing for the Nats.
He was good 1 time.
Pen so bad he doesn’t have to be great to be a good add.
He’s throws heat from the left side, and that’s always nice, but man, I’ve watched him wilt on the mound so often. He needs to get his mental stuff composed, hope he figures it out. Good dude.
I love this move. This is a great test for the Nats new pitching lab.
How are the Nats going to get Chapparo’s bat in the lineup is the big question.
Chapparo can hit.
If Crews and Young both struggle at the plate, they will have to sacrifice some defense for Chapparo’s bat.
As in Andres Chapparo? He isnt even going to make the roster. He is also a corner infielder, not outfielder, so I don’t think Crews and Young have much to do with it.
Wood can play OF and Chapparo can DH. Chapparo a good option to get starts at 1B and 3B too. Lile seems like the best option to hit in the OF group outside of Wood and House and Garcia Jr. also have been better at the plate than Crews and Young. If both struggle to hit, one of the two will likely get demoted.
I like Chapparo, liked him with the Yanks, he absolutely demolished PCL in ’24.
No he can’t hit.
Are you serious? Chapparo had a few moments for a struggling team, but getting his bat in the lineup is a nonissue.
I disagree, once he gets it going, he is going to be a consistent plus bat.
Stop. His agent doesn’t even go this hard for the guy. AAAA depth guy.
Dylan Crews isn’t going to be replaced by Chapparo and his career 76 OPS+ anytime soon… or ever.
Chapparo has only had 200 MLB at bats. He did hit .332/.403/.564 in Reno in ’24 and .275/.384/.577 with AAA Rochester in ’25.
For a slugger, he makes good contact and doesnt strike out much. Hit .350 this winter in VZWL.
Crews annihilated the SEC and put up good numbers in MiLB but not as good as Chapparo.
Both players listed at 6’0 205, very similar hitters. Crews gets all the hype, Chapparo the underdog.
He had one very elite year for my O’s, aside from that he’s not been very good. In recent seasons he’s been far too hittable and far too prone to hand out the walks. On a minor league deal though, not an awful gamble. Maybe he strikes a balance between that elite season and the bad ones and becomes a serviceable solid bullpen arm.
On a side note I googled “Cionel Pérez stuff” to get an ai generated opinion of his repetoire. “Cionel Pérez is a left-handed relief pitcher known for his high-velocity sinker, groundball tendencies, and, more recently, his ability to catch home run balls in his cap while in the bullpen.”
I will root for anyone who has that as their ai generated summary. I don’ know if anyone can replicate that but its hilarious.
It’s disturbing that a signing like this is what the Nats come up with at this point.
You’re disturbed by a minor league depth singing in mid February?…. Do you know how baseball works?
The problem with tbe stats on his stuff is that they’re not reflecting how erratic his outings have been in the last few years of regression.
He looked nasty in a bullpen the other day. Wanted the O’s to bring him back. We’ll see how it plays