When my colleague Ben Clemens wrote about Eury Pérez every week in the past Tuesday, he known as him “amazing.” It’s an apt description. Over his first 10 big-league begins, the 6-foot-8 Miami Marlins right-hander is 5–2 with a 2.47 ERA, a 3.61 FIP, and 54 strikeouts in 47.1 innings. Moreover, if not for a clunker in his most up-to-date outing — six runs allowed and only one out recorded towards the powerhouse Atlanta Braves — his numbers can be even higher. Less than three months after celebrating his twentieth birthday, Pérez has already established himself as one the perfect younger pitchers within the sport. His bona fides preceded his mid-May debut; the precocious teenager got here into this season ranked as our high pitching prospect (and No. 3 total on our Top 100).
Pérez has matured exponentially, each bodily and as a pitcher, since being signed by Miami out of the Dominican Republic in July 2019. Reportedly 170 kilos when he inked his first contract, he’s now listed at a sturdy 220. His fastball velocity has grown simply as a lot, climbing as excessive as triple digits and averaging a agency 97.6 mph. He’s additionally honed his secondary choices: a changeup, a curveball, and a slider.
I requested the über-talented Santo Domingo native about his growth path when the Marlins visited Fenway Park final week.
“It was around my 13th or 14th birthday when I started understanding a little more about the game,” Pérez defined, with Marlins media liaison Luis Dorante Jr. serving as an interpreter. “That’s when I really started learning how to pitch. When I was around 16 or 17, I started throwing faster; I was able to reach 95 [mph] at some point. I’d say that 2021 is when I started pitching like I do now.”
Pérez pointed to the 2020 pandemic yr when addressing his physicality strides. He’d already been hitting the fitness center and working — “There was a lot of running involved” — but it surely was then that he really started “taking developing [his] body seriously.”
Added dimension and energy translated to elevated fastball velocity, and as invaluable as that’s, an excellent motion profile might be each bit as essential. Pérez believes that he’s had all of it alongside. He remembers getting a number of swings and misses on his heater even earlier than his velocity started to spike. As he put it, “The movement was good, and once I added the speed, that’s what I’ve got right now.”
His total repertoire has been efficient, as evidenced by his 87th-percentile whiff fee and his 77th-percentile chase fee. As Ben wrote in final week’s article, hitters having to deal with his excessive warmth — Pérez’s velocity is within the ninety fifth percentile, and his spin fee within the 99th — makes his secondaries all of the more practical. As for which ones is his second-best pitch, that’s a matter of opinion. To Pérez, there isn’t any definitive reply.
“It’s hard for me to pinpoint specifically, because I use them all to get outs,” he stated. “I’d say that all three are my best secondary pitch.”
Nick Fortes has been behind the plate for a lot of the righty’s begins, and he kind of agrees with that sentiment. Ditto on hitters having to respect the high-octane fastball, making every of the secondaries more practical than they might be in a vacuum. The 26-year-old backstop was understandably effusive in his reward of the younger hurler.
“I’m not really sure who he compares to,” Fortes stated. “He resembles Sandy [Alcantara] and Edward Cabrera on our staff in that there is wipeout stuff, but I’ve never caught anyone else like that who is only 20 years old. He’s honestly one of a kind. He’s got electric stuff that you don’t see from someone his age.”
Hitters haven’t seen the likes of Pérez both, which is a giant cause why he’s off to a scintillating begin in what tasks to be an All-Star–caliber profession. To say he presents an enormous problem for anybody entering into the batter’s field can be an understatement. Standing on the mound, Pérez is the one holding the trump playing cards — a reality of which he’s effectively conscious. Equal components humble and assured, he responded with a smile after I requested if he considers pitching enjoyable.
“Yes,” Pérez stated. “Of course it is.”
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com