The Washington Nationals added two experienced relievers on minor league deals right as camp was starting. Drew Smith and Cionel Perez have been quality big league relievers in the not too distant past, but have seen their stock fall due to injuries in the case of Smith and a dropoff in production for Perez. Now, they will look to bounce back on a team with plenty of bullpen spots up for grabs.
Each have made two scoreless appearances so far, and have looked good. Perez has been particularly sharp. After a rough year, it seems like Perez was in the lab this offseason. His fastball is in the mid to upper 90’s and his breaking ball has looked really sharp. He caught Ronald Acuna Jr. looking on a nasty slurve the other night.
At this point, I would be very surprised if Perez did not make the team. From 2022 to 2024, Perez made at least 60 appearances each season and was a valuable member of the Orioles bullpen. At just 29 years old, there is a decent chance last year was just a blip on the radar.
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Perez’s BABIP in 2025 was .391, which is just unsustainably high. The Nats infield might be somewhat problematic for the ground ball heavy lefty, but that batting average on balls in play number is inevitably going to come down. His career BABIP is .303, so I really think last year was a fluke in that regard.
There are some pitchers, like MacKenzie Gore, who run high BABIP numbers because of the quality of contact they allow, but Perez is not like that. His expected batting average number was low at .213 and he does not allow many barrels. Perez’s ERA is inevitably going to come down, just by getting better batted ball luck.
One thing I am more worried about is his control. He has always allowed his fair share of walks, but that number spiked in 2025. His 16.4% walk rate is simply too high. Perez is going to walk people, but he needs to get that number closer to 10%, which is where he was before 2025.
If Perez does become a contributor, I think he will become a bit of a fan favorite. The amount of velocity he gets from a small frame is crazy. He also seems like a big personality. Perez has long flowing hair and can be quite fiery on the mound. He also had a funny tradition of catching home runs with his hat while sitting in the O’s bullpen. I wonder if he will bring that to DC.
The situation for Drew Smith is a bit less straightforward in my opinion. He has thrown the ball well so far, but I do not think he is a lock to make the team out of camp. I certainly think we will see him at some point, but I think he could benefit from some time in AAA.
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Smith had not pitched since June of 2024 before this spring. He underwent Tommy John Surgery, the second one of his career. Coming back from a second TJ can be quite dicey. I would not be surprised to see the Nats give Smith some time to acclimate before throwing him in the big leagues.
The 32 year old was an effective reliever for the Mets from 2021 until his injury in 2024. He has missed a lot of time though, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal. Smith is a strikeout artist who can really spin the ball though.
He has tossed two scoreless innings this spring, but his velocity has been down a tick. However, his fastball has always relied more on its shape than the pure velocity. The shape has been solid. He has been leaning heavily on his slider. The velocity of that pitch is down over 3 MPH, so I wonder if this is a different type of slider than what he was throwing before.
Before picking up Smith and Perez, the Nats bullpen was painfully short on experience. These guys are not sure things, but they have been there and done that before. That is more than you can say for most of the other guys in the Nats ‘pen. They should also be very hungry to prove themselves.
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If Spring Training is any indicator, these could be shrewd additions for Paul Toboni. You just never know with relievers though. At this time last year, I was hyping up Lucas Sims and Colin Poche, and we all know how that turned out. Hopefully these guys prove to be better than that, and help the Nats bullpen improve after they were the worst unit in baseball last year.