WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The Nationals entered Spring Training with a group of predominantly young relievers. In a matter of days, they have added a pair of pitchers with notable Major League experience to their bullpen competition.
The Nats signed 29-year-old southpaw Cionel Pérez and 32-year-old righty Drew Smith (pending a physical) to Minor League deals with invitations to big league camp.
“The bullpen is kind of wide open,” pitching coach Simon Mathews said. “But there's a lot of really interesting arms down there and a lot of guys with a lot to prove.”
Pérez arrived at the Nationals training complex on Monday ahead of his ninth season. He has 257 games of Major League experience, amassing a 15-6 record and 4.22 ERA over his career.
“Our pitching group is fired up to have him, as am I,” said manager Blake Butera. “He’s somebody who has already had success in the big leagues. And even today [Monday] when we were doing our pickoffs and Cionel was on the mound, CJ [Abrams] was like, ‘When did we get Cionel?’ ‘We just got him yesterday!’ ‘He’s nasty! I’m so glad I don’t have to face him!’ ‘You will in live BPs!’”
Pérez pitched the last four seasons with the Orioles organization. Last year, he appeared in 19 games for Baltimore (8.31 ERA, 21 2/3 innings) before being designated for assignment in late May. Pérez then went 1-2 with a 6.85 ERA in 21 relief appearances with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate.
“The last year, I had a really hard year for me,” Pérez said. “ When you have that after a couple years of success in the big leagues, that resets your mind. You say you need to be more competitive, more focused on your goal and [make] more sacrifice.”
Pérez trained three months this offseason at Driveline Baseball. He added a curveball to his arsenal and worked on improving his existing pitches. Last season, for example, his four-seamer averaged 95.5 mph with a 12.5% whiff rate compared to averaging 96.5 mph with a 20.4% whiff rate in 2024.
“I see a lot of difference in my fastball, the life of my fastball,” Pérez said. “It was way different last year because I focused more [on] throwing sinker. I want to bring that back again. When you play with your fastball, with the life, you can throw everything.”
Pérez considers a baseball team to be a family, and he is excited to get to know the players in the Nationals clubhouse. He already is familiar with reliever Orlando Ribalta, who also was born in Cuba and debuted in Baltimore against the Orioles when Pérez was playing there.
“I’ve obviously checked with others who have been around him, and have said really good things about him,” Butera said. “But just the fact he’s been there, done that, he’s had success, he’s been elsewhere and he gets a chance to come in here and meet some new teammates and some new people and help them understand what a routine should look like, how to prepare going into games, things like that. Whenever you bring in somebody with his experience, with his abilities, it only helps the rest of the group.”
Smith stays in the NL East after playing his entire career with the Mets. He missed the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Prior to that, he was 12-13 with a 3.48 ERA and five saves in 196 1/3 relief innings (191 games). The only pitcher on the Nationals staff with more service time than Smith, who debuted in 2018, is former Mets teammate Trevor Williams.
“There are some guys that have the talent to be a really fun, special group,” Mathews said. “It’s going to be kind of a pirate ship down there. So we'll see who takes charge, but it'll be a fun group to watch.”