Yennier Cano Emerging as Orioles’ Latest Under-The-Radar Pitching Star
At 22-10 through 32 games, the Baltimore Orioles have surprised many with their strong early-season start, just as they did last season. And their bullpen has been a massive reason for that success.
Baltimore’s front office is among the best in baseball at evaluating talent on thin margins, especially involving relievers. Just look at closer Félix Bautista. But there are others, too. Yennier Cano, for example, is quickly becoming a rising star within their bullpen.
Bautista has attracted most of the attention thus far, and rightly so, but Cano has suddenly emerged as one of the more reliable high-leverage relief pitchers in the majors. And he’s done so just one season after earning an 11.50 ERA over 13 big-league appearances in 2022.
This season, however, the 29-year-old has thrown 14.0 scoreless innings over 11 relief outings and didn’t allow a single baserunner over his first 11.0 innings pitched. Since then, his only blemishes have been two hits and one hit by pitch.
Cano has struck out 16 batters thus far, resulting in a ridiculous 37.2 percent strikeout-to-walk rate difference, ranking third in the majors among qualified relievers. His .048 OPP AVG and 73.1 percent ground-ball rate are also first in that category.
The 6-foot-4 righty, adding to his value, is tied with Pittsburgh’s David Bednar for first in fWAR (0.9) through the first month-plus of the season. And he’s also a perfect 2-for-2 in save opportunities, as well.
So how did the Orioles stumble upon a pitching gem like Cano? Well, for starters, he didn’t just happen to fall into their lap. They targeted him in last summer’s mid-season Jorge López trade with the Minnesota Twins.
With López eligible for free agency after 2024, Baltimore knew he likely wouldn’t be part of the puzzle long-term, causing them to seek to maximize his trade value. That landed them four players in return, including Cano, who had previously struggled to realize his full potential.
In the minors, Cano was often utilized in late-game situations and rarely struggled to generate swings and misses in that role. Walks and home runs were his biggest weakness, though, clouding his future in a major-league bullpen.
But the right-hander’s three-pitch arsenal – including a mid-90s sinker, a low-90s changeup and a high-80s slider – made him appealing to the Orioles front office. They believed he could take his craft to another level by making a few tweaks. And as it turns out, they were right.
After surrendering nine runs on nine hits and five walks with Baltimore post-trade last season, Cano has come into 2023 with a much cleaner delivery and is striding further down the mound, increasing the average extension on all three pitches.
Source: Baseball Savant
Opposing hitters now have less time to decipher Cano’s pitches, particularly with reading location and movement – two areas where he has thrived early on. It has also given his sinker the illusion of being faster than it is.
The former Twin has also increased the vertical movement on his primary weapon, averaging 6.2 inches more than last season. Since it now averages 33.1 inches of drop, 9.5 inches more than other sinkers with similar velocities, it possesses the most added drop among qualified pitches.
A byproduct of these adjustments has led to Cano’s surging sinker usage, which has risen to 58.2 percent in 2023, 18.1 percent higher from a season ago. So far, it has proven virtually untouchable, with opponents hitting just .048 against it.
More notable, however, is its -8 run value is tied for second-most among qualified sinkers.
Cano has also made similar improvements to his devastating changeup, elevating its swing-and-miss properties. It was already his premier strikeout offering. But now, it has become almost automatic at missing bats.
By increasing its vertical movements by 3.4 inches, now averaging 33.7 inches of drop, his off-speed has induced more chases than ever (47.1 percent, career-high). In turn, it has significantly enhanced its strikeout (58.8 percent) and whiff rates (41.4 percent).
Not to mention, Cano’s changeup has also yet to surrender a hit across 17 plate appearances this season, and is easily one of the filthiest pitches in the sport.
The Orioles right-hander – rostered in just 30 percent of Yahoo leagues, 11 percent in ESPN leagues – has quickly formed a one-two punch with Bautista at the backend of the bullpen, making it next to impossible for teams to mount comebacks against them.
But that’s nothing new for this group, which has excelled at finding and developing relievers over the last several years.
It’s worth remembering this isn’t the first time Baltimore’s front office has flexed its muscles regarding external player evaluations. While their franchise hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016, that drought certainly isn’t because they haven’t featured enough quality high-leverage relievers.
This season’s bullpen perfectly exemplifies that sentiment as Cano, Bautista (signed as a MiLB free agent in 2016) and Bryan Baker (claimed off waivers from Toronto in ‘21) were each acquired after being passed over by other organizations.
The Orioles also likely wouldn’t have gotten their hands on Cano if not for identifying López, claiming him off waivers from the Kansas City Royals in 2020. He struggled mightily the following season but found his footing in ‘22 and emerged as the club’s primary closer.
Baltimore has operated like this for at least a decade, and can be dated back to as far as Darren O’Day’s waiver claim from the Texas Rangers in 2011, which saw him falter to a 5.40 ERA and a -0.5 fWAR before transforming into an All-Star reliever with the Orioles.
Player development is critical for small markets like Baltimore. It’s how the Orioles – and the Tampa Bay Rays – can survive in the AL East Division, which includes high-spending teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays.
While that trio has needed to spend resources – money and high-profile trades – to acquire shutdown bullpen arms, Cano is yet another case of how working in the grey can prove very rewarding.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
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