This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ATLANTA -- At the beginning of the 2021 season, Félix Bautista was a 25-year-old pitcher opening the year at High-A Aberdeen. He’d never pitched at that level before, and he had only 38 games of professional experience.

Fast forward two years, and Bautista, 27, is now one of the most dominant closers in MLB. The 6-foot-8, 285-pound right-hander is using his four-seam fastball to overpower hitters and his wipeout splitter to badly fool them.

Bautista’s breakout 2022 season was impressive. His start to the 2023 campaign has been even better, hence why Baltimore’s ninth-inning man was named the American League Reliever of the Month for April earlier this week.

“It’s really exciting,” Bautista said via team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Truly just a lot of emotions, to be able to receive this award. And it’s just great overall to see all the fruits of my labor come to fruition.”

It’s unsurprising Bautista is having big league success. In 2021, he excelled at all three upper levels of the Minors (High-A Aberdeen, Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk). His performance put him on the Orioles’ radar coming into ‘22, when he broke with the team out of Spring Training.

Once Baltimore dealt Jorge López to Minnesota at the Trade Deadline last season, Bautista was the obvious choice to become the new closer, after previously serving as a setup man. He went 12-for-13 in save opportunities over the final two months of the season, allowing more than one run only once in 20 appearances and recording 15 scoreless outings.

Bautista has carried that success over to 2023, posting a 1.84 ERA in 15 games and going 7-for-9 in save chances.

Bryan Baker, a fellow right-hander in the Orioles’ bullpen, knew Bautista had the potential to be special from the first time he saw the Dominican Republic native throw early in 2022. The two were both rookies last season, and Baker enjoys knowing Bautista will frequently be following him in games.

“When you have a fastball like that, they have to honor in the strike zone, and then you have a splitter like that to go off of it, it just makes life very difficult for the hitters, obviously,” Baker said. “Stuff’s just different coming out of his hand.”

Bautista’s four-seamer is averaging 99.1 mph and has maxed out at 101.9. He’s thrown 16 heaters that have registered at 101 or higher. His splitter has a 65.2% whiff rate.

Teams that have late-inning relievers with that type of arsenal will want him to pitch as many games as possible. That’s why manager Brandon Hyde called upon Bautista in 14 of Baltimore’s first 27 contests.

But Hyde also doesn’t want to overuse Bautista. He didn’t pitch Sunday (at Detroit), Monday (off-day) or Tuesday (at Kansas City), and he appreciated Hyde giving him a short breather early in the season.

Bautista wants to pitch as much as possible, though. After all, this is the job he worked so hard to reach for much of his life.

“It is something that I think of from time to time, thinking back, ‘Wow, I was really in Single-A a few years back,’” Bautista said. “And now, I’m feeling satisfied that I’m finally here.”