Astros trade lefty reliever Cionel Perez to Reds 24 Jan 2021 / 01:45 H.
The Houston Astros traded left-hander Cionel Perez to the Cincinnati Reds for minor league catcher Luke Berryhill, both teams announced Saturday.
Perez, 24, appeared in seven games out of the Houston bullpen in 2020 and posted a 2.84 ERA with eight strikeouts and six walks in 6 1/3 innings.
Perez is 1-1 with a 5.74 ERA, 27 strikeouts and 15 walks in 26 2/3 innings spanning 20 relief appearances over the last three seasons.
The Cuba native was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 2 prospect in the 2017 international class, the 11th-best prospect in the Double-A Texas League in 2018 and one of the Astros top prospects in both 2018 (No. 13) and 2019 (No. 12).
Acquire young catcher in exchange for LHP Cionel Perez
January 23rd, 2021
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HOUSTON, TX - The Astros have acquired catcher Luke Berryhill from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for LHP Cionel Perez, General Manager James Click announced today.
Berryhill, 22, last appeared in game action in 2019, appearing in eight games for Greeneville (.240, 25 AB, 6 H, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 5 BB, .744 OPS). He did not appear in any games in 2020 due to the pandemic-caused cancellation of the minor league season. Berryhill was selected by the Reds in the 13th round of the 2019 First Year Player Draft after starring at the University of South Carolina. In 56 games for the Gamecocks in 2019, he hit .271 with 15 doubles, 12 home runs and 49 RBI while posting a .538 slugging pct. (.920 OPS).
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HOUSTON The Astros created room on their 40-man roster Saturday, trading left-handed relief pitcher Cionel Pérez to the Reds for Minor League catcher Luke Berryhill. That gives the Astros an empty roster spot while they wait to finalize a deal to bring veteran outfielder Michael Brantley back on a two-year contract.
Berryhill, 22, last appeared in game action in 2019, appearing in eight games for Rookie-level Greeneville, where he hit .240 with one homer, five RBIs and a .744 OPS. He was selected by the Reds in the 13th round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of South Carolina.
Pérez, whom the Astros signed for $2 million in 2016 on the international market, had appeared in 20 games in relief for Houston over the past three seasons, posting a 5.74 ERA in 26 2/3 innings. Facing a roster crunch after signing relievers Ryne Stanek and Pedro Báez, catcher Jason Castro and agreeing to a deal with Brantley this month, Pérez was expendable.
January 23, 2021
Over the last two days, the Reds have made a couple of small trades acquiring Hector Perez from Toronto for a PTBNL or cash and Cionel Pérez from Houston for former South Carolina catcher Luke Berryhill to bolster their bullpen depth. These are the latest in a series of transactions that are part of an obvious effort to pick up change of scenery candidates (Jeff Hoffman, the Perez(s), Art Warren), or players falling off the bottom of other rosters (Edgar Ernesto Garcia, Brandon Bailey) to try to create an above-replacement injury/COVID safety valve at the bottom of Cincinnati’s active roster and in the upper minors. This might prove especially important if the team’s 2021 innings are spread across more pitchers to prevent huge workload increases after the shortened season.