Astros' Perez unhittable for seven frames

Every time Cionel Pérez takes the ball, the Class A Quad Cities coaching staff gets to know him a little better, crafting a more specific development plan to help him take the next step in the early going of his professional career. Monday night, he made his biggest impression yet.
Houston's No. 16 prospect threw seven hitless innings, striking out a career-high 10 and walking one, as the River Bandits powered by the Peoria Chiefs, 5-1, at Modern Woodmen Park.

Signed by the Astros in December, Perez made just his fifth professional start after spending the first three weeks of the season in extended spring training building up his endurance for a five-inning or 75-pitch workload. Having posted a 9.64 ERA through his first four starts, the lefty looked more like the arm Houston banked on getting in his third win.

"His fastball was electric. He used it to quality locations and was able to not get predictable to one side of the plate or at the bottom or top of the strike zone," River Bandits pitching coach Drew French said. "He was able to move the ball around really effectively with the fastball, especially first time through the order. Once he got to that second time through, he was able to really mix his offspeed in well, read swings. He and our catcher, Chuckie Robinson, they stayed on plan all night."
Perez was perfect in his first three and last three innings. He faced one baserunner in the fourth when he walked Shane Billings with one out and sent him to second on a wild pitch before stranding him in scoring position.
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"His ability to throw a quality changeup in the strike zone and two breaking balls both in the strike zone early in the counts, he was able just to get guys off of his fastball," French said. "When you play the game and you're unpredictable like that on the mound, it's just really hard for guys to get on time for one pitch."
His coach noted Perez worked 94-95 mph with his fastball, mid-70s with his curve, low-80s with his slider and mid-80s with his changeup.

"That's a really big spread in velocity that guys have to respect," French said. "When you're able to use all of those in the strike zone early in the count and get swings and weak contact, that's what contributed to him being able to go so deep in the game with such a low pitch count for this time of year."
Perez struck out at least one batter in five of his seven innings, fanning the side in order in the third and sixth. Five of his strikeouts came in the first three or four pitches of at-bats. After Perez departed following the seventh, Peoria's Stefan Trosclair greeted Quad Cities reliever Kevin Hill with a leadoff single to short to break up the no-hit bid.

"It's not necessarily the stuff is any different, but I think he's learning more and more kind of in-game awareness, being able to read guys' swings a little bit better," French said. "The gameplan for him, it gets a little bit tighter and tighter every time he goes out because we're able to have a little bit more data on him as he's getting more and more reps."
Perez allowed seven runs over 2 2/3 innings in his Minor League debut April 27 at Clinton. After tossing 5 2/3 shutout frames on May 5 against Lake County, he struggled again five days later by giving up six runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings at Bowling Green.
"Where his two struggles came against Clinton and Bowling Green was just his inability to get balls to quality locations to induce swings-and-misses when he was ahead in the count," French said. "I just want him to remember the aggressive nature in which he attacked hitters and the quality locations in which he went to put guys away."

Perez debuted in the Serie Nacional, Cuba's top domestic league, as a 17-year-old in 2013-14. A year later, he defected and made his way to the Astros system. French raved about the Havana native's adaptability to life in the States and affiliated ball.
"The way he's handled it with maturity and professionalism and open ears to a lot of our organizational philosophies, a lot of the things we're really trying to establish, especially at the lower levels, it's a huge learning curve," French said. "We are all very sensitive to the fact that he and a lot of other guys are in a different place, a different country, a different state with a lot of different people. We just do our best to make them comfortable, to make them feel at home and let them be who they are at the same time."
Robinson doubled and drove home two runs in the win.