#Astros prospect Hector Perez gives up one hit, strikes out nine over 6 2/3 scoreless innings for @bcreekastros. https://t.co/7rVs6RVMau pic.twitter.com/md7c3RMY5d
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) May 29, 2017
4. Hector Perez, RHP
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 6/6/1996 (21)
2017 teams/levels played for: low-A Quad Cities River Bandits, high-A Buies Creek Astros
2017 Stats: 25 G, 17 GS, 107 1/3 IP, 3.44 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 16.8% BB, 27.5% K
Info: Perez jumped up quickly after being a later signee out of the Dominican, signing just before his age 19 season. Due to his more advanced age, he moved quickly through the DSL, GCL, and Appy Leagues all in 2015, posting a 1.64 ERA over 55 innings with 50 strikeouts.
The Houston Astros moved him up to short-season A-ball to open 2016, and he pushed his way to low-A by the end of the season with a 3.15 ERA over 60 innings, striking out an impressive 80 hitters. That caught quite a few eyes of evaluators.
When he’s got his stuff around the zone, Perez is nearly impossible to hit and generates a ton of swing and miss
When he’s got his stuff around the zone, Perez is nearly impossible to hit and generates a ton of swing and miss. In 2017, he struggled to find the zone across two A-ball levels. He did strike out 128 in 107 1/3 innings, but he walked nearly twice as many as what you would want from a starting pitcher.
However, those times he’s around the zone, you see how incredible the stuff truly is. He has a fastball that can bump triple digits, sitting around mid-90s, with the ability to manipulate his fastball with cut and sink. He has a wicked split change that generates a lot of his swing and miss.
Perez’s breaking stuff are both currently average or a tick below average, but they both have excellent break that he could potentially move to above-average or even plus pitches with better command and control of the pitches.
There is definitely issue that he could end up in the bullpen, but Perez is still raw enough in his development that he will be given plenty of time in the rotation, likely spending the majority of the season at AA.
3. J.B. Bukauskas, RHP
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 10/11/1996 (21)
2017 teams/levels played for: Gulf Coast League Astros, short-season A-ball Tri-City ValleyCats
2017 Stats: 3 GS, 10 IP, 2.70 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 12.8% BB, 23.1% K
Info: Interestingly enough, Bukauskas drew comparisons in college to his organization-mate with the Houston Astros, Lance McCullers, Jr., due to their stature and hard fastball with an elite secondary pitch. Bukauskas has an elite slider instead of a curve like McCullers, but the profiles line up well otherwise.
That is very possibly why the Astros were the team to pull the trigger on Bukauskas when he began to fall down the draft board due to other organizations’ concerns about his size and ability to hold up long term at his build. A number of teams were worried that he would be a reliever, but the Astros believe he could be a starter.
Bukauskas features a fastball that sits 92-94, touching 96-97 at the top end with plenty of life on the pitch, though he did struggle with seeing his velocity dip a full two ticks by the end of starts by the end of the college season.
His best pitch by far is his slider, a wicked pitch that sits in the mid-80s and can run into the upp too mucher 80s with incredible late bite and deception in that he gets initial look out of hand of his fastball, which gives the pitch even more effectiveness. His biggest issue is leaning on the pitch a bit.
The development of his change will determine his future path, but J.B. has a floor of a dominant closer, so he is a fairly safe bet, providing health.
Bukauskas will certainly open with a full season league, but it will be interesting to see where the Houston Astros send him with the development still needed in his change. It’s feasible he ends up as high as AA to open just because of the ability for team officials to work with him closely there.
Next: #1 and #2