Around the Curve | Former Curve Manager Miguel Perez Embraces Major League Opportunity

This story is part of the series 2025 Spring Break: Young Bucs Edition, a compilation of reports from Bradenton leading up to Opening Day.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Countless times over his three-year tenure at Triple-A Indianapolis, Curve alum and 2021 Manager Miguel Perez had the pleasure of telling someone for the first time that they were headed to the major leagues. It was something that he took some joy in, acting like there was a serious infraction of team rules and seeing their reaction before telling them that they were headed to the major leagues for this first. Until it happened to him this past off-season.

“It was a funny way to find out that I was going to get this opportunity, Shelty [Pirates Manager Derek Shelton] kinda pulled one on me,” Perez said with a laugh outside the Pirates clubhouse on Monday afternoon at LECOM Park.

Now the Pirates Major League Bullpen Coach after 18 seasons as an instructor at various levels in the minor league system, Perez admitted to feeling the same feeling he felt as a player when Derek Shelton called to offer him a position on the major league staff as he had as a player 20 years earlier.

“Rick Sweet (who now serves as the Manager for the Milwaukee Brewers Triple-A affiliate in Nashville with former Pirates Pitching Coach Justin Meccage) brought me to the office and said, ‘Hey do you have a jacket to go with you when you go home after the season?’ And I was like, uh, what? I don't know if I need that, it’s going to be hot in Venezuela. And he said ‘you gotta get a jacket because if you don't have one, you’re not going to go to Cincinnati.”

Perez, who led the Curve to a 58-59 record as Manager in his lone season as skipper in Curve, PA in 2021, has built deep relationships with his players throughout his coaching career that have eased his transition to the major league staff this spring.

“Having the majority of these guys from Double-A and Triple-A has really helped me adjust to this role, I’m learning the flow and process of the day-to-day about how to help guys prepare,” said Perez. “There’s a lot of preparation, tons to do before the game. Meet with the pitchers in the afternoon to know who’s ready for battle that night and I experienced that at Triple-A, the preparation element. Now instead of giving directions and leading meetings, I'm receiving some of the information and sharing it with the guys. A lot of guys are helping me to understand the flow of it, our Triple-A pitching coaches Drew Benes and Cibney Bello have been really helpful in that regard.”

It was clear that Perez’s time as a minor league instructor affected dozens of players. The evidence of which was apparent after the announcement of his new role for 2025, he spent weeks returning messages and phone calls.

“I was so grateful for the experience I had in Indianapolis, but hearing from so many former players and teammates was special.” Perez reflected.

And when Opening Day finally comes, on March March 27 at Miami, the emotions will likely run high for the Perez family.

“I'm already smiling thinking about it [Opening Day]. After the first game of spring this year, they gave me a ball afterward commemorating my first game as the bullpen coach, which was funny, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot. My family will be there and I’m so excited for this team.”

Curve Cuts

• Certainly one of the top storylines for the 2025 Pirates is the development of Oneil Cruz, now a full-time center fielder. Cruz and Perez developed a deep relationship during his time in the minors. “I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen from him this year. Four years ago when I had him at Double-A and the amount of growth that he has accomplished since has been impressive. There’s more there, that’s the exciting part, I don't think there’s a ceiling for him,” said the 2021 Curve Manager about his former pupil.
• 2023-24 Curve RHP Jack Carey cleaned up an inning for Mitch Keller on Monday night in the Pirates 6-3 loss to Baltimore at LECOM. Carey faced a pair of Orioles regulars with men on base and retired Jackson Holiday with a terrific splitter before surrendering a two-out hit to Jordan Westburg.
• The other major takeaway from Monday night’s game is that Baltimore’s minor league system has more studs on the way. In this game, righty Levi Wells (the Orioles 4th rounder in 2023 out of Texas State) sat in the high-90’s with a wicked curveball that has all the looks of a lockdown reliever. Then lefty Luis De Leon, who is ranked by MLB.com as the No. 14 prospect in the Orioles system, arrived tossing an easy 96 with a wipeout slider. Both Wells and De Leon could reach Chesapeake this season and would be a tough task for Altoona to handle.
• Perhaps the most encouraging inning of the night was the Pirates plating two runs off righty Felix Bautista in the third inning. Jack Suwinski and Jared Triolo each had run-scoring hits off of one of the best arms from the 2023 season who is getting healthy after a season sidelined with an elbow injury.
• 2022-23 Curve righty Kyle Nicolas has a renewed sense of confidence in his breaking stuff. After focusing on landing his curveball and slider for strikes more during the off-season, the fruits of his labor are starting to show as he’s allowed just one unearned run in five innings this spring. The highlight of his off-season was traveling to Seaside, Florida in the panhandle to attend the wedding of Tigers prospect Dillon Dingler. The two have remained close friends since growing up together in Massillon, Ohio and have faced each other several times in the minors.
• Braxton Ashcraft tossed two scoreless innings and showed off his outstanding curveball to pick up a pair of strikeouts. Ashcraft is likely ticketed for the rotation at Triple-A Indianapolis to start the year, but assuming he’s healthy ought to be the first in line for a start when the Pirates need one from the minor leagues.

Stay tuned to the Around the Curve blog all week for our 2025 Spring Break: Young Bucs Edition series, with Jon Mozes and Preston Shoemaker reporting from Bradenton.