Yennier Cano sits motionless on a chair in the Orioles’ home clubhouse, staring at his phone.
His locker is located directly next to the room’s busiest thoroughfare: the hallway that leads to the manager’s office, the training room and the field.
Players and coaches buzz by. The big right-hander doesn’t notice. His eyes are affixed to the screen in his hand. Finally, a staffer approaches Cano and gives him the lineup card from his first save in the majors.
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Cano, who at 29 has become an overnight sensation and arguably the best reliever in baseball in 2023, flashes a million-dollar smile and says, “Thank you.” He then puts the lineup card in his locker, making sure he doesn’t bend it, and immediately returns to his phone.
He’s not studying video or playing games or streaming a movie.
What’s on the other end of the screen is much more important to Cano. It has changed him, improved his focus, allowed him to understand that baseball isn’t everything.
Cristopher Cano, two months old, is at the doctor’s office, getting his first vaccinations. His dad couldn’t be there in person because of his demanding day job. But Cano is there virtually. He’s talking to his baby boy in soothing tones as the bustling baseball world swirls around him.
For all the theories as to why the hard-throwing Cuban has finally hit his stride in the majors — a delivery tweak, burgeoning confidence, analytical assistance — perhaps the most important ingredient is one that can’t be quantified:
Dad strength.
Cano’s life has been peppered with difficulties: The death of his mother. A baseball ban by the Cuban government. The decision to leave his homeland for a better opportunity and a new country. Then another country. And a third.
He’s also ridden the roller coaster of professional baseball. He’d dominate one day; couldn’t throw strikes the next. Rinse and repeat.
Nothing, though, prepared Cano for Aug. 2, 2022.
A life-changing moment. And a second one. Separated by hours and a plane ride. In retrospect, it would be the most impactful day of his life.
That morning, his wife, Arianny, approached him with news. She had taken a pregnancy test, and it was positive. Cano was flummoxed. He wanted to see the test results.
“And sure enough, she showed me the test and I was like, ‘Wow,’” Cano said, through Orioles interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Honestly, it was the best moment of my life. It was something incredible.”
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The couple had been married for about seven years. They wanted to have children. But Cano was hoping to get established in his career before starting a family. At the time, he was anything but established. Cano had been demoted by the Minnesota Twins and was scheduled for a flight that day to join their Triple-A team on the road.
He had time to go to the doctor’s office with his wife. The pregnancy was confirmed. Cano’s head was spinning with joy as he boarded the plane and headed back to the minor leagues.
When the plane landed, he checked his phone. Missed calls and messages. Strange, since only he, Arianny and the doctor knew about the pregnancy.
But these weren’t congratulatory calls. Cano had been traded by the Twins, the only MLB organization he had known, to the Orioles in the Jorge López deal. It happened within hours of learning he’d be a dad.
“I was between crying and being super happy and excited. Obviously, happy that we were going to have a baby,” Cano said. “But I also was sad that I was getting traded. It was like all of those emotions filled into one day.”
As a young man, Cano never envisioned moving away from Cuba. He was content playing in the Cuban National Series, the country’s primary pro league, and for its national team. He lived and pitched in the town where he and his wife were born, Ciego de Ávila.
In 2016, however, Cano said his world collapsed. His mother, Amelia, died from lung disease. Cano’s father wasn’t in the picture.
“She was an incredible person. She was everything to me. It was really difficult losing her. In many ways, she was my mom and my dad,” said Cano, whose mother supported him and his sisters by caring for the elderly. “She was just an incredible person to whoever she was around, to me, family members, friends.”
Hours after her funeral, Cano, then 22, played a baseball game. He needed to compete.
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“Baseball is my biggest escape and honestly it was one of those things where, throughout my life, baseball has gotten me through so many big moments,” Cano said. “I think, honestly, playing baseball helped me get through my mom’s death.”
Five days after she was buried, Cano decided there wasn’t a compelling reason to remain in his homeland. He and his wife could have a better future elsewhere.
They sat down with their families and discussed plans.
“It was a pretty big decision, but we talked it out,” Cano said. “It was a pretty good decision.”
Cano said he and his wife started the process to leave Cuba in 2017, applying to the government instead of attempting defection. Red tape was everywhere.
“It was definitely a long process, working with lawyers and things like that,” he said. “In total, it took about a year, because one day they would tell you, ‘Yes,’ and the next day they would say ‘No.’ Or they’d switch something up on you.”
Sacrifices had to be made. Cano was prohibited from playing baseball for a year. He was under the watchful eye of the government and couldn’t train on Cuba’s fields.
“I was basically under surveillance 24 hours a day for that one year,” he said. “It involved me training at my house or finding different ways to stay in shape and stay ready while away from a baseball field.”
Ultimately, he received permission from officials in Argentina to move and train there. After a year in baseball exile, Cano and his wife left Cuba, spent about six months in Argentina and then relocated again to the Dominican Republic. That’s when his Major League Baseball dream coalesced.
Yennier Cano. (Joy R. Absalon)Orioles general manager Mike Elias has known about Cano for several years. In 2019, Elias and Koby Perez, the organization’s senior director for international scouting, traveled to the Dominican to watch Cano pitch in a showcase. The Orioles’ brain trust liked what it saw. But the Orioles viewed Cano as a reliever, and his handlers were promoting him as a starter.
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Perez received word the Twins had offered Cano a $750,000 signing bonus. That was more than the Orioles wanted to spend at the time, so they passed and never made an official offer.
Cano signed with the Twins. He made his professional debut in 2019, walking 14 batters and striking out 15 in 15 innings at Rookie and High-A ball. After not pitching competitively in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cano compiled a respectable 3.23 ERA and five saves at Double A and Triple A in 2021. A strong beginning at Triple-A St. Paul last year earned Cano a major-league call-up with the Twins last May.
He allowed three runs in his first relief outing and, ultimately, found a spot on the shuttle between Triple A and the majors, going up and down in June and July.
It’s a familiar story. Cano is physically intimidating — he’s listed, conservatively, at 6-foot-4, 245 pounds — and has a mighty arm with a 96 mph sinker and a devastating, 90 mph changeup. But he couldn’t consistently throw strikes. So, he thrived in the minors and was battered in the bigs.
When Elias was contemplating trades at last year’s deadline, he instructed his pro scouting department, led by director Mike Snyder, to take a deep dive on the Twins. Snyder and his scouts identified several targets, including lefty pitching prospect Cade Povich and Cano, who, due to his circuitous route to the majors, was too old to be a prospect. But the talent was definitely there and Cano’s use of three-quarter and lower arm slots were intriguing.
“It’s hard to find his combination of velocity and sink, especially from that (lower) arm slot,” Snyder said. “For the most part, mechanically he was solid. Mainly, we felt he could benefit from accentuating what was already working best for him in terms of pitch grips, arm slots and locations. The more we dug in, the more we thought there could be a tipping point where small adjustments could help unlock greater consistency.”
The Orioles acquired Povich, Cano and two others for López on Aug. 2, and Cano had to board another plane and fly to Norfolk to join the Tides. His first two outings with his new organization were shaky, then he settled down and was promoted to the big leagues in September.
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His initial appearance as an Oriole couldn’t have gone much worse. He faced 14 Boston Red Sox hitters and retired five. He was charged with six hits, three walks and seven runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Cano was a mess. He worried about his career. He worried about his pregnant wife. He worried about everything.
“It actually got to the point where my wife called me and she’s like, ‘I’m gonna go be with you, because clearly your head’s not on straight. You’re all over the place. You know, get your head on straight, focus on baseball,’” Cano recalled. “‘We’re gonna have a baby but I want you to focus on pitching really well and I’m gonna be there with you. So don’t stress about it. Don’t fret about it. You’re gonna be fine.’”
Cano struck out 11 of his final 18 batters at Norfolk and was recalled to the majors in October, allowing two runs in two appearances as the season ended.
He was on the 40-man roster bubble this offseason. He could have been designated for assignment as Elias added to and subtracted from his roster. But Cano had his supporters in the organization and particularly in the pro scouting department. He stayed on the roster through the winter and currently has allowed 10 hits, one run (0.35 ERA) and a mind-boggling zero walks while striking out 28 batters in 25 2/3 innings to become one of the best stories in MLB.
“What he has done so far,” Snyder said, “has been really fun to watch.”
Yennier Cano and Adley Rutschman. (Jay Biggerstaff / USA Today)Cano felt excellent in spring training. He tweaked his delivery to keep his left shoulder from drifting while he consistently repeated his arm slot. The result was more strikes, and what he thought was a legitimate shot to make the Orioles’ Opening Day roster. But he had to take a break from his routine for a few days; Arianny was about to give birth.
The couple went to the hospital in early March when she felt contractions. Thirteen hours later, she was sent home. No baby today, the nurses told her. Go home and get some rest.
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“The moment she gets back home, she’s kind of like, ‘Now I’m ready to go.’ So, we immediately had to run back to the hospital,” Cano said. “And then the nurses are like, ‘Now we need to keep you in here. Like the baby is about to get here.’”
Facing big-league hitters late in games is unsettling. What truly spooked Cano, however, was being in that hospital room, sleepless for more than a day, with his baby boy suddenly pushing his way into the world as medical personnel swarmed around Arianny.
“Like we say in Cuba, I was scared s—less, to say the least,” Cano said, smiling. “Seeing my wife giving birth, I’ve never seen something like that. Just super impressive to be there during that moment.”
Cano understood what was ahead of him. Two days after Cristopher was born, Cano turned 29. He had to return to spring training to compete for a job. This was his chance. Suddenly, though, it didn’t seem like going back to the minors would be soul-crushing. He believed he’d eventually get an opportunity. And he was convinced he’d make the most of it.
“Prior to having the baby, it’s kind of just taking care of myself and being with my wife. But now it’s like, you’re keeping a whole human alive. You’re there for them every single second. Trying to take care of them and making sure they’re OK,” Cano said. “So, responsibility-wise, there has been a huge difference. It’s changed my life completely.”
His career trajectory has changed completely, too.
The Orioles recalled Cano on April 14 and he set down all five batters he faced that night in Chicago. It was the beginning of a franchise-record-tying 24 straight batters retired to start a season. He didn’t allow a hit in April. He didn’t give up a run until an RBI groundout by Toronto’s Bo Bichette on Friday night, Cano’s 18th appearance. He has faced 84 batters, walk-free, including nine in two scoreless innings Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
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“You see guys that turn into very serviceable pieces that weren’t even expected to be on the roster. But not as dominant as what you’re seeing from Cano right now,” said veteran catcher James McCann. “It’s his stuff obviously. But the most impressive thing for me is just how much confidence he has. He’s not afraid of any moment.”
Baseball players will hang their ballcap on any philosophy or change that makes them better, whether it’s analytics, mechanical adjustments or pure superstition. If it can lead to success, they’re on board.
“Dad strength” likely falls into the latter category. The belief is that becoming a father energizes a player, frees their mind, allows them to relax and hyperfocus.
“I think ‘dad strength’ has definitely kicked in. Ever since my wife had the baby, it’s something my family and my friends call me to tell me. ‘Dude, since you’ve had that baby it’s given you a frickin’ boost because people can’t even foul a ball off of you. It’s insane,’” Cano said. “It’s been a huge blessing to be able to have my baby, and I definitely think that strength is a real thing.”
Orioles’ left-hander Cionel Pérez and closer Félix Bautista had a similar baseball renaissance last year, going from afterthoughts to dominant relievers in one season. Coincidentally, those two are Cano’s best friends with the Orioles. Cano and Bautista live in the same Baltimore apartment complex and walk to and from the ballpark every day. Pérez and Cano sit in the bullpen together and constantly talk about their lives and experiences in Cuba.
“I think the best way I can describe him is, he’s a simple guy. He is always happy. He always has a smile on his face,” Pérez said. “He appreciates the little things and is always in a good mood.”
Pérez, a Cuban defector who didn’t meet Cano until last September, said what his compatriot is accomplishing in 2023 is more impressive than what he and Bautista achieved in 2022.
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“Honestly, there’s no comparison. I think what he’s doing this year is just incredible,” Pérez said. “I don’t think I’ve seen any difference, per se, with him, personality-wise or anything like that this year. He’s always in a great mood. But I definitely think that he’s got some ‘dad strength’ in him now.”
Whatever the reason — consistent arm slots, steady shoulders, or living with his wife and son in Baltimore this season — Cano has more confidence on the mound than he’s ever had. He believes he’s going to succeed every time he pitches. And he basically has each appearance this year. Maybe it’s one specific thing, or maybe it’s a collection of everything he has encountered.
“People don’t even know half the stuff that I’ve been through with my family, with my wife, and things like that,” Cano said. “But I’d definitely say all those things have added up to the point where now it kind of gives me a different perspective when I have to come into a game and be in a high-leverage situation.
“I’ve been through so much. And now it’s just about being able to pitch in a game.”
(Top photo: Jess Rapfogel / Associated Press)
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