The next prospect in our series is one that the New York Yankees organization still has high hopes for despite injuries over the last couple of years. That prospect would Dominican born, Freicer Perez. Perez has an absolute cannon of an arm and a very big frame. Perez stands an impressive 6’8 and weighs about 240 pounds. Perez resembles Dellin Betances when he’s on the mount. Perez has a lightning fastball that can touch 100 mph when he’s healthy. His fastball graded at a 70 on the 20-80 scout scale. To go along with his fastball, Perez has a plus curveball that can be a devastating complimentary pitch to his fastball. Perez has also been developing a changeup and slider to go along with those two pitches. Perez was on the fast track to being one of the best prospects in the system after an incredible 2017 campaign. However, injuries have derailed his development and we haven’t seen much of him over the past couple of years.
Injury Bug
Perez entered the 2018 season as a top 25 prospect in the New York Yankees system. He had one of the best fastballs in the system, and the Yankees had faith that he could develop into a really good starter or an elite reliever. Perez made 24 starts in the 2017 season. In those 24 starts for Charleston, Perez went 10-3 with a 2.84 ERA. Perez also struck out 117 batters in 123.2 innings and had a WHIP of 1.14. Perez was entering the 2018 season with a ton of hype. When watching Perez, you could see why the Yankees were so excited about him. His fastball was so good, but the fact that he was 6’8 just helped it even more. When you have a pitcher standing that tall, it makes the pitch seem even faster than it is. 2018 saw Perez hit a big wall in his development. His shoulder was giving him a ton of trouble in Tampa and he was shut down after going 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA. Shoulder inflammation was the cause of the injury, and he did not appear for the rest of the 2018 season. The injury persisted and we didn’t see Perez at all during 2019 as well.
Poised for Comeback
By all accounts, 2020 was supposed to be a big year for Perez to show the organization that he has returned to the promising form we saw in 2017. However, the pandemic has likely canceled minor league baseball for the 2020 season so we look towards 2021. When minor league baseball comes back, Perez has to show the Yankees that he can stay healthy. If he comes out and shows that he’s healthy, he will fly up the prospect boards. The kid is an absolute stud and has stuff that you simply can’t teach. He needs to continue to work on his offspeed pitches and his command, but he has the makings to be a big-time pitcher for the Yankees. I’m not sure how the Yankees will go about developing him over the next couple of years. He was being developed as a starter, but with his size and injury concerns, I’m curious to see if the Yankees try to transition him to the bullpen. He’s definitely a prospect that fans should keep an eye on over the next couple of seasons.