Perez takes positives from outing

FORT LAUDERDALE -- It was an eventful 2009 Grapefruit League debut for Chris Perez, but ultimately a successful one in more ways than one.

The results were solid: Perez allowed one hit and no walks in a scoreless inning. And the way he got there was pleasing to the right-hander.
Perez threw six or seven sliders and a couple of curveballs in the span of four batters, and he threw them mostly for strikes.

So even though he gave up plenty of contact on off-speed offerings -- some of it very hard contact -- Perez achieved what he wanted to.

"They told me that's what they want me to work on," Perez said, "and it's the best time to work on it -- Spring Training. They want me to throw it ahead in the count, behind in the count, even in the count, all the time. So today, I threw it first pitch to a guy, I threw it full count to a guy, threw it 2-2 to a guy. That's what I need to do right now. I worked it in a lot today, and it's the best it's been since I was in the Minors."

For too much of 2008, Perez was a one-pitch pitcher. He throws a fastball with excellent velocity and good movement, but he had a difficult time finding his breaking ball. This after he was drafted in 2006 on the strength of a fastball-slider combination at the University of Miami.

"It's not like I never had a slider," he said. "I just lost a feel for it last year. It's hard to get that feel in the big leagues, especially being a rookie and just trying to survive up there. It's hard when you only have one pitch. ... Especially during the season, relievers, we can't throw bullpens. So I was working on my slider during games."

Now he's working on it in the spring. And although it was far from perfect, it was in the strike zone on Thursday.

"He threw some that were promising," said manager Tony La Russa. "It's not there yet. You can't be happy. But it's promising."

(mlb.com)