The Miami Marlins are coming off a postseason appearance in 2023, their first since 2020, and they’ve made the playoffs just four times in their 31 seasons. The one thing they always seemingly possess is starting pitching, and they always find the right guys with names such as Livan Hernandez, Josh Beckett, Jose Fernandez, and Braxton Garrett. Then they’ve gone out and acquired pitching either prospects who turned into big names such as AJ Burnett, Brad Penny, Dontrelle Willis, and Pablo Lopez or names that had already made their debut in the big leagues or been around for a while with names such as Al Leiter, Kevin Brown, Jesus Luzardo, and Sandy Alcantara. The one thing the Marlins organization knows what to do is find pitching, they have Noble Meyer currently in the system who may be the next big one but there is one who made his big league debut last season that got Marlins fans excited that they have the next one and that is Eury Perez.
Eury Perez By The Numbers
Perez was signed as an amateur free agent on July 2, 2019, by the Marlins. In 2021, he pitched at Single-A Jupiter and High-A Beloit, making 20 starts, going 3-5 with a 1.96 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 78 innings. In 2022, Baseball America ranked him the 48th prospect, and MLB.com ranked him the 41st prospect. He played at Single-A Jupiter and Double-A Pensacola, making 18 starts, going 3-3 with a 3.97 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 77 innings; he also played in the Futures Game, going one inning and recording a strikeout. In 2023, he was ranked the 13th prospect by MLB.com and the seventh-ranked prospect by Baseball America. He made eight starts in Double-A, going 3-1 with a 3.19 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 36.2 innings. He got the call to the Marlins and made his debut on May 12th against the Cincinnati Reds, going 4.2 innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits; he walked two and struck out seven. He would be shut down to keep him healthy, so he ended the season 5-6 in 19 starts with a 3.15 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 91.1 innings.
Eury Perez 2024
Perez is projected to be the number two starter for the Marlins in 2024 with Alcantara out for the season; however, there have been rumors of Luzardo being available for trade; if he does get moved, then Perez could be thrown into the fire as the ace on Opening Day and get the ball in the Marlins first game. Assuming he stays healthy all season he should make roughly 27 starts and could easily see him getting close to ten wins and even reaching over 150 strikeouts, he’s projected to finish with an ERA around 3.30 as well. The one thing he has done well is keep the walks down as he finished with 3.1 BB/9 if he can hover around there this season there’s no reason, he can’t get ten wins and have the Marlins right back in the postseason spot with a Wild Card.
