BA GRADE
55
Risk: Extreme
Born: Aug. 12, 1999. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-3. Wt.: 210. Drafted: HS—Southwest Ranches, Fla., 2017 (2nd round). Signed by: Charlie Gonzalez.
For most of his high school career, Perez was a well-regarded third baseman with excellent power. But Perez quickly turned into one of the must-see pitching prospects in Florida thanks to a 95-98 mph fastball. Most teams quickly came to prefer Perez as a pitcher, but the Astros (and Perez) believed in his bat.
Perez hit a home run to finish hitting for the cycle in a playoff win, then was shut down with an elbow injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. The Astros drafted him knowing that he would need to rehab the elbow injury. Perez has easy plus power to all fields although there’s more debate over how much he’s going to hit. The Astros are confident that he’s going to hit for average as well as power while other scouts saw less bat-to-ball skills. When Perez does get back into the dirt, he has a plus-plus arm that makes up for some of his limitations in foot speed and range. He will have to work hard on his lateral agility to stay at third base. Perez will be able to hit again during spring training, although he’ll need significantly more time before his arm is ready to handle playing third base again.
Perez always has a fallback option of going back to the mound if hitting doesn’t work out, but the Astros are confident he’s a slugging third baseman.
Year |
Club (League) |
Class |
AVG |
G |
AB |
R |
H |
2017 |
Did not play |
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Year |
Club (League) |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
2017 |
Did not play |
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Year |
Club (League) |
SO |
SB |
CS |
OBP |
SLG |
2017 |
Did not play |
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