Bandits' Perez bounces back confidently

After a tough ending to Cionel Pérez's professional debut on April 27, Class A Quad Cities pitching coach Drew French wasn't worried about the 21-year-old's confidence heading into start No. 2.
"He has supreme confidence in his stuff," French said. "When you have that type of confidence, a 2-0 count to him is really the same as an 0-2 count because he has a feeling about a certain pitch and he knows that he can throw it where it wants to, and he goes with it."

Box score
The Astros' No. 16 prospect struck out seven over 5 2/3 scoreless innings on Friday, working around two hits and a walk, in Class A Quad Cities' 6-2 win over Lake County at Modern Woodmen Park.
"I really don't think there's ever 1 percent of doubt in his mind about him being able to do anything," French said. "I think he takes the mound and I think he knows he's better than the guy in the box. And that's going to allow him to succeed at probably the highest level."
Perez (1-1) went up, 0-2, on the first batter of the game, Gabriel Mejia, and French knew it was going to be a good night for the Cuba native. Allowing two baserunners over the first four innings, the left-hander threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 21 batters he faced.

"He mixed his pitches really well, he moved his fastball particularly well at the bottom and top of the strike zone," the pitching coach said. "He has four above-average pitches, so it's very, very difficult for any team or any hitter to get timed up for one particular pitch to a particular location. Anyone is hittable when they're predictable, and he remained unpredictable all night and was able to use all of his stuff for strikes and then to be able to expand the zone and put guys away."
Perez ran into a little bit of trouble in the fifth when he allowed a leadoff single to Trenton Brooks, then plunked Luke Wakamatsu. But the left-hander escaped unharmed with two big strikeouts. Perez also got help from catcher Jake Rogers, who stopped Brooks from swiping third on a double-steal.
An error in the sixth put Perez in danger of reaching his pitch count, so after two outs and 78 pitches, French just had to give his pitcher a handshake and a pat on the back.
"We knew it's in there, it was just a matter of him getting under the lights for the second time and putting one together," the coach said.
The Astros signed Perez on Dec. 9 and French got his first glimpse of the international star at Spring Training. From the beginning, the coach could tell the southpaw has a "great feel of pitch quality." When camp broke, Perez stayed in extended spring training to build up his pitch count.

In his pro debut last month, the 5-foot-11 hurler retired the first seven batters he faced against Clinton before surrendering seven runs on five hits and two walks, exiting two outs into the third inning. French felt Perez "got a little too fired up" and tried to be too fine.
"His stuff is really good. For him, it's not about being fine, it's putting his arsenal in the best position to be able to put guys away," French said. "I think he's starting to get a little bit of a grasp on it. He's new to the organization and so there's an effect of how much information we can give him and how early. So we just want to drip it on him and we want to let him go out and do his thing."
Randy César and Spencer Johnson both doubled and plated two runs to help secure Perez's first pro win.