Indians Top 100 Prospects: #27 Alexander Perez

27. Alexander Perez - Right-handed Pitcher
Born: 07/24/1989 - Height: 6'2" - Weight: 156 - Bats: Right - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	BB/9	K/9	WHIP
2007	18	DSL Indians	R	1	2	2.90	13	10	0	49.2	41	16	3	13	64	2.4	11.6	1.09
2008	19	GCL Indians	R	2	4	4.26	10	9	0	50.2	37	24	5	16	49	2.8	8.7	1.05
		Career		3	6	3.59	23	19	0	100.1	78	40	8	29	113	2.6	10.1	1.07

History: Perez was signed as an undrafted free agent in May 2007 out of the Dominican Republic. Last year, he finished 2^nd in the Gulf Coast League with a .204 batting average against.

Strengths & Opportunities: Perez throws a standard three pitch mix of a fastball, curveball and changeup. His fastball sits in the low 90s, and his arm works so easy that with maturity the Indians expect he is going to add more velocity. His two secondary pitches the curveball and changeup are much more advanced than most players his age and both have the potential to be plus pitches. His ability to throw both the curveball and changeup for strikes and command them well in the zone is something you don't see from a pitcher who turned 19-years old halfway through the Gulf Coast league season last year. The curveball is the slightly better of the two pitches, but both the changeup and curveball have the potential to be an out pitch at the major league level. They are weapons in the making.

Perez is a very loose bodied kid, and has a good frame that should fill out. At 6'2" and 156 pounds he will need to add more strength and bulk, which should happen over the course of the next few seasons, possibly even when he comes to camp this spring. He has been tough on hitters his first two seasons, holding them to a .218 batting average in 2007 and a .204 batting average in 2008. He has a career 4:1 strikeout to walk rate, and his career 10.2 K/9 to go along with his 2.6 BB/9 show his advanced command and ability to punch batters out and go right after them. If he begins to show more fastball velocity and command to go along with the secondary pitches he has, the Indians will have the makings of a big time starting pitching prospect.

Outlook: Perez will open the 2009 season at 19-years of age, which would be his freshman year if he were in college. He went on to have a very good inaugural campaign with the 2007 Dominican Summer League team, and last year on the Gulf Coast League team was the best pitcher on the staff and has the highest upside as a potential major league pitcher. He is the next big pitching prospect coming up from the lower levels of the Indians system who should become much more of a household name over the course of the 2009 season. Like previous Latin 19-year old predecessors Jeanmar Gomez, Hector Rondon, and Kelvin De La Cruz, he is expected to open the season in the Single-A Lake County starting rotation.

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr

Alexander Perez MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page

Alexander Perez Baseball-Reference page

Alexander Perez MinorLeagueSplits.com page

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