‘I feel ready’: Marlins’ Eury Perez eyes MLB debut and has a good partner preparing him
Their bullpen sessions had finished a little more than an hour ago, yet Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez are nowhere to be found.
Eventually, the two emerge from the weight room inside the clubhouse at the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex.
It turns out the bullpen was just the warmup.
“We had six rounds, working the body from top to bottom,” Perez said Thursday. “Sandy’s a guy that doesn’t stop.”
This isn’t the first time Alcantara has pushed Perez. It very likely won’t be the last.
Alcantara, the Marlins’ ace of the present, has a vested interest in Perez, his hopeful co-ace of the not-so-distant future.
“There is a reason why he’s here,” Alcantara said.
Perez, a 19-year-old wunderkind and one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, is willing to learn from the 27-year-old Alcantara, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner.
The pair of Dominican flamethrowers trained together during the offseason, with Alcantara bringing Perez to South Florida to train ahead of spring training. In addition to Alcantara helping Perez with his conditioning, he helped him improve his delivery.
They have been nearly inseparable since.
It started at Pinecrest Strength & Conditioning during the winter. It continues now in Jupiter with Perez part of big-league camp for the first time in his young pro baseball career.
And, the two hope, it continues with Perez eventually joining Alcantara in the Marlins’ starting rotation.
“What can I say? Sandy’s an unbelievable pitcher,” said Perez, a consensus top-15 prospect in all of baseball. “He’s a Cy Young winner. That’s the ultimate goal as well. I just want to go out there, compete, get to the big-league level and continue working really hard.”
When, exactly, does Perez think he will be ready to join the big leagues?
If Perez had it his way, the continuation would occur right from the start of the 2023 season.
“That’s the goal for everybody inside that clubhouse,” Perez said.
Perez will be given a chance to make his case.
Three of the Marlins’ starting pitchers — Alcantara, Johnny Cueto and Jesus Luzardo — are set to play in the World Baseball Classic next month during the back half of spring training. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said the Marlins are going to give top prospects, Perez included, an “opportunity for those guys to come in and show who they are.”
“You’re in big-league camp to try to make the team,” first-year Marlins manager Skip Schumaker added. “That’s why you’re here. It’s not just to eat the spread here.”
Realistically, however, Perez making the Opening Day roster will likely be an uphill climb.
Health-permitting, four spots in the Marlins’ season-opening rotation appear to be locked up: Alcantara, Cueto, Luzardo and Edward Cabrera. Trevor Rogers and Braxton Garrett are next in line. Stottlemyre and Schumaker both said the team is considering a six-man starting rotation if it helps the team win.
But that doesn’t mean Schumaker won’t give Perez — or any other player in big-league camp for that matter — his opportunity to stake his claim on a roster spot.
“To say that these guys have no chance to make a team isn’t fair,” Schumaker said. “For me, these prospects will tell you when they’re ready.”
If that’s the case, Perez has a message.
“I think I’m ready,” Perez said. “I feel ready. ... Looking forward for the team to make a decision.”
‘He’s just different’
After the two completed their bullpen session on Thursday, Alcantara took a moment to reflect.
When he looked over at Perez, it brought Alcantara back to his early days with the Marlins. Alcantara followed Jose Urena around the team facility and tried to emulate every facet of Urena’s routine — similar to what Perez is doing now with Alcantara.
He sees the youthful exuberance. He sees the pure stuff with his pitches. He sees the undeniable confidence.
“I see myself,” Alcantara said.
The Marlins’ ace, however, was quick to admit a couple noticeable differences between him and Perez.
First, there’s the height. Perez towers at 6-8 and 220 pounds. Alcantara, by comparison is only 6-5 and 200 pounds.
Then, there’s the age. Alcantara made his MLB debut just before 22nd birthday, making 10 relief appearances with the St. Louis Cardinals in September 2017 before being traded to Miami.
Perez doesn’t turn 20 until April 15 and is on the cusp of becoming a big-leaguer. Alcantara didn’t reach Double A until his age-21 season.
“I didn’t have that talent [that Perez has at his age],” Alcantara said. “I was throwing hard. I was a prospect, but he’s a different man. He’s just different. The stuff is too good. He wants to be here.”
And Perez has certainly come a long way in a short amount of time since the Marlins signed him for $200,000 in July 2019.
In three-and-a-half years, he has grown four inches and added nearly 45 pounds to his frame. His fastball went from barely hitting the mid-80s when he was being scouting to now sitting around 94-97 mph and touching 100. He complements the heater with an upper 80s changeup that had a 61-percent swing-and-miss rate last season. He is also developing a slider to give him a second breaking pitch to go along with his curveball.
He played all of last season, his second of pro ball after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed his debut, with the Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos.
Hector Crespo, the Marlins’ director of minor league operations, went to Pensacola for Perez’s first start with the Blue Wahoos on April 8. Crespo’s focus that day wasn’t on the results or the velocity or the pitch selection.
“It was just his demeanor on the mound,” Crespo said. “You could see from the first pitch he was locked in. It’s just competitiveness. He’s different. Not many 19 year olds can go out there and do that.”
He kept doing it all season.
Despite being one of the youngest pitchers at the level, Perez struck out 34 percent of the batters he faced — 106 of 311 — in 75 innings, missing time late in the season due to a lat strain. Before the injury, Perez had a 10-game stretch in which he posted a 1.98 ERA with 69 strikeouts against nine walks and a .166 batting average against over 50 innings.
“It’s like a hot knife cutting through butter,” Adrian Lorenzo, the Marlins’ senior director of international operations, said. “These leagues are not easy leagues. Double A is not an easy league to pitch in. ... I know it’s not unprecedented generally in the scope of baseball, but at least in my experience — 10 years in the game now — he’s the best amateur pitcher I’ve seen. That’s a combination of stuff, polish, pitchability and just demeanor. I don’t know. You run out of superlatives after a certain point. You just say ‘Yeah, he’s the best I’ve ever seen.’”
Eury Perez’s next steps
While Perez certainly has confidence that he can pitch in the big leagues right now, he understands there are still areas where he needs to develop.
The simplest could be padding his resume. Perez has only pitched 155 innings the past two years. He also has yet to throw more than 90 pitches in a game and has only completed six innings twice in 38 career starts.
“I believe probably a little more experience I will need to obtain and face more experienced hitters. Some of this stuff will help me as well,” Perez said. “I think I’m probably going to have to gain a little more weight so I can maintain myself in the game a little longer, gain a little more stamina.”
In addition to experience, Schumaker has a few other criteria on his check list, most of which involve what Perez does outside of his starts.
“You have to hit different stages to become a major league pitcher,” Schumaker said. “There’s certain things we’re looking for and identifying. Is he ready mentally, not just physically? There’s a lot of stages and a lot of checking of boxes before you become a major leaguer. And there’s gonna be some growing pains.”
Perez appears up for the challenge. His six-week audition is underway.
“Now that I’m here,” Perez said, “all I want to do is enjoy every day, enjoy this time with my teammates and try to find a spot on the big-league roster.”
