OLIVER PEREZ

Starting Pitcher
San Diego Padres

Bats: Left Throws: Left
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 160 lbs.
Born: August 15, 1981, in Culiacan, Mexico.

 YEAR

PROFILE:
Because the San Diego Padres have a working agreement with the Mexican League’s Yucatan Lions, the organization allowed Oliver Perez, a native Mexican, to pitch for Yucatan for most of the 2000 season; he was signed by the Padres on March 4, 1999. He originally began his professional career as a reliever, but was later turned into a starter. He has had a meteoric rise through the Padres’ system, mostly because he has always chosen to play winter ball each off-season, and the extra experience and seasoning has shown. Perez is yet another in the long line of fine young pitching prospects to come out of the Padres’ organization, though he has sort of been overshadowed by the highly-touted right-handers Ben Howard and Dennis Tankersley. Perez is a tall and lanky left-hander, who can put some good zip and movement on his low-90s (92-93, topping out at 97 mph) fastball, clearly his best pitch at this point. In addition, Oliver throws a terrific slider and a decent changeup, and an average curve. However, the youngster, who at 20 years of age was the youngest player in the majors last year prior to August, is working on improving his curveball. In addition, he is starting to fill out his thin frame, which should allow him to become an even harder thrower and more durable hurler. Even in the low minors, Oliver held his own against much more experienced hitters. However, this being said, the young pitcher has to improve his control, if he wants to continue to experience success, which is something he started to do last season in the big leagues. He is often compared to the Cubs’ young pitcher Juan Cruz. Both are talented, young pitchers who need to improve their control. They both tend to go late into games, only to be the victims of big late-inning rallies, mostly due to having thrown too many pitches earlier in the game. Oliver is a very confident, driven, and hard-working young pitcher, who has shown that he can be very aggressive in going after hitters. In addition, he can throw any pitch in his arsenal at any time in the count for a strike.

FINAL ASSESSMENT:
Because Perez showed that he had the stuff and mentality to succeed at the major league level last season. He should begin the season in the Padres starting rotation. His only hurdle to overcome is to fully harness his control. It’s not that Perez is wild in the traditional sense; he simply sometimes tries to overthrow the ball. We see this talented young left-hander going in the first round of the upcoming NABL draft. He’ll probably be one of the top five players chosen.