SARASOTA, Fla. — Yennier Cano wanted to take his training to the next level last year. He modernized his approach, heading to an academy that restructured his entire schedule — no daily weightlifting sessions, no lightweight ball drills.

He felt great. Until he didn’t.

“Sometimes I’d look at my velocity and go, ‘What’s going on there?’” Cano said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones.

It all went wrong. The Orioles right-handed reliever saw his ERA balloon to 5.12. He went from dominant to dominated — from a former All-Star to a reliever optioned to the minors midway through 2025. Cano couldn’t help but think the changes in his offseason routine were a major reason his performances wavered.

As Cano aims to recapture the form he had during the best season of his career, his first step was returning to the routines he developed in Cuba that helped him blossom in 2023 as a dynamo out of the bullpen.

“Right now, I feel like I’m in great shape,” Cano said. “I feel really good, and I feel like I’m the 2023 Cano right now.”

If Cano can truly return to the best version of himself, it would be a massive boost for Baltimore’s bullpen. There are more questions than sureties among the current class of relievers, and the late-inning options were slimmed Wednesday when manager Craig Albernaz announced right-hander Andrew Kittredge may miss opening day due to shoulder inflammation.

In 2023, Cano produced a 2.11 ERA. He went to Seattle as an All-Star. What worked well for him then was a 58.9% ground ball rate, which was among the highest in baseball. His sinker was like a bowling ball, then-manager Brandon Hyde often said — it came in quickly before it plunged with late vertical movement.

But last season Cano’s sinker averaged 95.1 mph, which was about 1 mph slower than previous years. The vertical break he induced was less than in 2023 by more than an inch, according to Statcast.

“I think a lot of that had to do with the condition I was in physically,” Cano said. “But I think that now it’s looking a lot better in terms of movement.”

In Tampa, where Cano lives, he returned to the basics. He ran on the beach and lifted weights every day. He threw a special ball that is similar in weight to a softball, only smaller, to build his arm speed.

With those routines at the center of his winter workouts, Cano entered camp feeling stronger and more capable of finding success.

Cano said he feels physically stronger heading into the season than he did last year. (Ulysses Muñoz/The Banner)

“He’s gross. He’s still gross,” Albernaz said. “He’s continually working hard, and all my conversations with him are that he knows he’s not a finished product. He knows there are always little dials to turn to get better, and he’s embracing what the pitching coach has. But the dude’s a freak. Like, he’s a freak on the mound. And it’s fun I’m wearing the same uniform as him, not watching him carve up guys on my team as I watch from across the way.”

One of those adjustments has been scrapping his changeup to throw his splitter only. Cano said the movement profile of his circle changeup was too similar to that of his sinker, and as batters got to know him better, they knew how to adjust to a pitch only a few ticks in velocity apart. Batters hit .417 against Cano’s changeup last year.

His splitter, though, brings more depth to his arsenal. Cano plans to pair it with high fastballs while continuing to throw a slider and occasional cutter and four-seam fastball.

In that way, his arsenal is different than it was in 2023. But, as Cano aims to cement himself once more as a reliable reliever, the return of his old training techniques was important.

“I went back to what I was doing in ’23 when I had great results,” Cano said. “Just looking to go back to that and replicate that year.”