St. Louis Cardinal's Chris Perez works to develop slider

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — Chris Perez' road map for spring training is a simple one: He must become more than a one-pitch talent.

The young righthander acknowledges improving a slider is his ticket to the Cardinals' opening day roster, perhaps as the successor to departed closer Jason Isringhausen.

"I'm competing with myself to be on the team and competing with everybody else to be the closer," summarized Perez after working a scoreless fourth inning in Thursday's 11-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

A member of the Cardinals' 2006 draft class, Perez, 23, fell into and out of the role after the organization hustled him to St. Louis following Isringhausen's May meltdown last season.

No longer a rookie despite remaining on many publications' prospect list, Perez made 41 major-league appearances. He compiled a credible 3.46 ERA but admits pitching much of the time with little confidence in anything other than his fastball.

"It's not like I never had a slider. I just lost the feel for it," recalled Perez, who rated it his best pitch while closing at Miami. "It's hard getting it back in the big leagues, especially being a rookie just trying to survive up there. It's not like a hitter, who can take 2,000 swings in the cage if he wants. During the season, relievers really can't throw a bullpen. I was working on my slider in games. That makes it tough. You throw a ball or they whack it, and you lose confidence in it."

Perez mixed six sliders among Thursday's 14 pitches. He threw 10 strikes to four hitters. One pitch became a double; two were hard outs to right fielder Ryan Ludwick, who went far into the right-center field gap to save Perez' scoreless inning. Perez counted the outing a success because he consistently found the strike zone. Precision within the zone will come later.

"Today it was looking good so I felt I could throw it for strikes. That changes your mentality," Perez said.

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

No one questions Perez's velocity. But without an effective slider as an additional deterrent, he realizes that one pitch is not enough to keep major-league hitters at bay.

"They told me that's what they wanted me to work on," Perez said of his slider. "They want me to throw it ahead in the count, behind in the count, even in the count — all the time."

Dealing with pressure is part of the process. La Russa wants it to be palpable.

"There's the pressure of him making the team," La Russa said, careful to make known that no guarantees have been extended a pitcher many have anointed the organization's closer-in-waiting. "He has to earn that."

The message has resonated. Perez is well aware of La Russa's and Duncan's skittishness about exposing inexperienced major-league pitchers to ninth-inning pressure. The next six weeks provide time enough to make a case.

"Nothing is written in stone," Perez said. "We've got seven or eight guys for five righthanded (relief) spots," Perez said. "I'm still trying to show Dunc' and Tony I worked on stuff in the offseason — that I can be successful on a consistent basis in the major leagues.

"My first goal is to make the team. As a young guy, nothing is guaranteed. There's a little pressure for that. At the beginning of the season, if I'm the closer there's more pressure."

For now he refines the tool to help deal with it.

(stltoday.com)