2023 Marlins Season Preview: Eury Pérez

Mar 25, 2023 - 11:00 AM

Miami Marlins warms up prior to the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium on February 26, 2023 in Jupiter, Florida." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/g1PNcEloPw39ljTukjD6TED7yRk=/0x0:5334x3000/1920x1080/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72113475/1247521195.0.jpg" />

RHP Eury Pérez

• Signed as an international free agent (July 2019).
• Made professional debut for Low-A Jupiter (May 2021).
• Placed on the seven-day injured list with arm fatigue (August 2022)
• Ranked Major League Baseball’s #7th overall prospect by Baseball America and and #13th overall by MLB Pipeline (2023 preseason lists).

Baseball-reference

Strengths

“Size matters.”

No, that isn’t an innuendo for something else. Eury Pérez is just very tall. At 6’8”, Pérez would be the tallest pitcher for Miami since Tayron Guerrero in 2020. With that supersize frame and accompanying arsenal of pitches, the legend of Eury Pérez has already garnered plenty an observant eye, all of this despite not yet being 20 years old and yet to make his Major League debut.

According to FanGraphs, Pérez has a potential 60 future value on the 20-80 scouting scale. Three of his four pitches—fastball, slider, and change-up—have 60-70 future grades, so it’s no secret as to why the organization is so high on him. Pérez’s fastball has been his calling card since entering pro ball and he’s now routinely hitting triple digits with it during his starts.

With his overwhelming assortment of stuff, it’s unsurprising that Pérez struck out 34.6% of hitters last season, 16th among minor league pitchers with at least 70 IP. The 19-year-old’s ability to put hitters away whilst not allowing too much in the way of free passes (2.9 BB/9) manifested in a 3.44 xFIP. And that came against Double-A competition where opponents were, on average, a half-decade older than him.

Weaknesses

We have to remember, despite appearing as polished as he does at such a young age, Pérez did miss time last season with what was later diagnosed as right shoulder fatigue. The start proceeding the shutdown proved to be his least effective since turning pro, allowing 6 earned runs and walking 4 over just 1 ¹⁄₃ innings.

It should be noted, too, that Pérez’s HR/9 rate rose from 0.8 in 2021 to 1.1 in 2022, approximately on par with the Southern League average.

Pérez yielded nine extra-base hits (14 hits total) in just 10 ²⁄₃ Grapefruit League innings before being assigned to minor league camp. His fastball, slider and changeup each got barreled in various instances.

2023 Marlins Role

To reiterate, the hard-throwing right-hander will only turn 20 years old on April 15. If Eury Pérez makes his MLB debut at any point during the 2023 season, he’ll be among the youngest players in Marlins franchise history to do so (arriving even faster than José Fernández did).

The Marlins clearly envision Pérez as a long-term member of their starting rotation, but they’ll have to creatively manage his innings this year to account for his limited body of work. He will open up the regular season as the headliner of Triple-A Jacksonville’s starting staff and merit consideration for a call-up whenever Miami inevitably needs reinforcements. If their current rotation holds up healthwise and the team remains in playoff contention deeper into the season than anticipated, Pérez could still force his way up in a high-leverage relief role, a la David Price with the 2008 Rays.