Marcos Mendoza | May 28th, 2019
After signing a 1yr $3.5 MIL in the offseason with the Minnesota Twins, Martin Perez is having a career resurgence year in 2019. In 2019, Perez has tossed 58 IP with a 2.95 ERA, 7.9 H9, 0.8 HR9, 4.0 BB9, 8.7 SO9, and 1.32 WHIP.
What’s led to Perez resurgence this season is his Cutter. He throws it 33% of the time, has a BAA of .119, an SLG of .167 and an ISO (isolated power) of .048. It’s been a huge part of his swing and miss game in 2019. The Cutter has a swing% of 54%, 28.4% of whiffs per swing, and a 15.4% whiff%. He excels at getting hitters to hit it on the ground as well with a 45.6% ground-balls in play, a 19.3% of fly balls in play, and 24.5% of line drives per balls in play.
The lefty simply doesn’t give up hard-hit balls either. He has an 86.0 MPH Exit Velocity on his balls in play and a 29.0% of Hard Hit balls which are the lowest of his career. He’s excelled at throwing first-pitch strikes as well this season at a 66.1% F-Strike%, and he has a 10.9% swing strike% which are both the highest of his career. Perez has been excellent at not allowing a lot of contact as he gets a 76.6% of contact made when swinging at pitches which is the lowest mark of his career. He gets the hitters to also swing at bad pitches getting a 32.6% of swings outside the strike zone and only a 66.3% of contact made when swinging at them.
He’s likely to maintain his low 3s era for the rest of the season I believe. His peripherals indicate it’s somewhat sustainable with a 3.69 FIP (fielder independent pitching), 4.35 xFIP, 4.55 SIERA(skill-interactive era), 65 ERA-, and 81 FIP- (where 100 is average and lower is better). He also has an XBA of .215, XSLG of .340 and a .298 WOBA (weighted on-base average).
This breakout season for Martin Perez will lead him to an All-Star selection I believe, and Perez will be a huge impact for the Minnesota Twins this season as they are on the rise to steal the AL Central from the Cleveland Indians.
Check Out The Other Deep Dives: Lucas Giolito | Rafael Devers | Corey Seager | Eduardo Rodriguez | Amed Rosario | Alex Verdugo | Joey Gallo | Mike Soroka | Christian Yelich | Cody Bellinger | Justin Smoak
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