Texas Rangers Promote Martin Perez

The Rangers, who have struggled with injuries to pitchers of late, have promoted their top prospect Martin

Perez.  Derek Holland, Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, Koji Uehara, and now Colby Lewis are all members of the Rangers’ disabled pitchers club.  Roy Oswalt should provide the team a nice boost, but Perez’s addition will give them a glimpse at the future.

Perez was signed out of Venezuela in 2008.  He made his minor league debut with the Spokane Indians of the Northwest League.  Over four minor league seasons, Perez made his way from Low-A ball to Triple-A, about an average progression for a highly-touted prospect.  However, his numbers are not indicative of a top-level prospect.

In his minor league career, a total of 108 games, Perez has started 98 games and has a 4.29 ERA.  He’s 25-29 in those starts.  This season with Round Rock, Perez has a 5-5 record with a 4.59 ERA.  He has the talent, but he’s yet to put it together.

Prior to this season, Baseball America rated him the number 31 prospect in all of baseball.  Prior to 2010, he was rate the number 17 overall prospect.  While he’s slipped a bit, Perez still has a great deal of talent.  His struggles aren’t with the long ball, which will help him while pitching for Texas – especially at the Ballpark at Arlington.  His career HR/9 ratio is just 0.7.

The Rangers are currently 45-29 and 4 games up on the Angels.  They have the ninth-best team ERA in all of baseball, but that won’t be sustainable with the injuries – unless players like Perez can step up and contribute.

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