Today: STL Prospect Chris Perez
Chris Perez is a big, strong righthander that should be the St. Louis Cardinals' closer of the future. He's been nothing but a closer since his days at U Miami. Fortunately, he's been a very good one.
While he made a few starts in his college career, it was his late-inning heroics at U Miami that inspired the Cards to draft him with their 1A pick in 2006. With a strikeout rate at or over 10 per 9 innings and a tiny 1.88 ERA in his junior year, it was as a close that he became attractive to the Cardinals, and in taking a college closer, they were announcing that they expected him to arrive in the big leagues quickly.
After a warmup at A-level Quad City, Perez dominated AA Springfield and AAA Memphis in 2007, maintaining his high strikeout rate while learning to adjust to better professional hitters. With 36 saves across both levels, it seems clear that he has little left to prove.
| Yr | Tm | Age | Lvl | W | L | ERA | G | GS | CG | SH | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | K/9 | WHIP |
| 2006 | QuadCity | 21 | A | 2 | 0 | 2.15 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 12 | 29.1 | 20 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 19 | 32 | 9.82 | 1.33 |
| 2007 | Springfiel | 22 | AA | 2 | 0 | 2.43 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 27 | 40.2 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 28 | 62 | 13.72 | 1.11 |
| 2007 | Memphis | 22 | AAA | 0 | 1 | 4.50 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 9 | 14.0 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 9.64 | 1.36 |
Perez works with a 94mph fastball, a bit light for a closer these days, but it has plus sink, and he combines it with an 86mph slider that is a definite out pitch. He is a big fellow, and prone to mechanical hitches, so it's possible St Louis will move carefully. He's also been prone to leave a few pitches up in the zone from time to time, especially when frustrated.
Still, he seems to have the overall attitude required to close out baseball games, so he could be a good one. How he handles the early fireworks in Busch will determine if he'll be ready in 2008, or whether we'll have to wait longer to see him working the ninth inning.
Update: After another impressive start at AAA Memphis (8 saves in 18 appearances, 1.83 ERA), Perez was called up to help strengthen the teetering bullpen in St Louis. He's having a rough time so far, with an ERA over 4 and 3 homers given up in his first 20 innings of work. He's also walking a few too many batters. But he's learning on the job, and the Cardinals seem determined to keep giving him MLB exposure now so that he's better prepared in 2009.
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