Top prospect Eury Pérez reassigned to Minor League camp

JUPITER, Fla. -- Since Eury Pérez's first live batting practice of the spring more than a month ago, there has been buzz surrounding MLB Pipeline's No. 13 overall prospect during his first big league camp.

That time has come to an end, as the Marlins reassigned him to Minor League camp on Monday morning.

"Nineteen years old, big league camp, throwing 100 mph with a couple of secondary pitches is as good as you're going to see of a pitching prospect," manager Skip Schumaker said. "He knows that he's not a finished product. I think the message is, if he wants to be a top-end-of-the-rotation kind of guy, watch what Sandy [Alcantara] does, and him being around Sandy and [Johnny] Cueto was really good for him and his maturation process.

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"I thought he learned a lot. I thought from the beginning to the end with that St. Lucie start was really good for him. Controlling the run game better. There's a lot of other factors than just throwing hard, but where he's at right now, and going down there to build off what he learned, was [a] really good camp for him."

Pérez, who turns 20 on April 15, has been on the fast track to the Majors since signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2019. In his second professional season in '22, he faced competition more than five years older than him and still posted a 3.41 ERA with a .643 OPS against through his first 15 starts at Double-A Pensacola. Pérez's performance garnered a spot in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game. An oblique strain inflated his numbers and then sidelined him for a month down the stretch.

This spring, Pérez's first three outings came in relief, and he allowed five runs on 10 hits across 7 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts, one hit batter and one walk. In his second appearance, he maxed out at 99.7 mph -- the fastest velocity recorded in any Spring Training game that day -- and he had just two fewer swings and misses than 2022 American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander. In Pérez's lone start on Friday, the right-hander gave up five runs (four earned) on four hits with three strikeouts and one walk over three-plus innings against the Mets.

• Eury flashes 'electric stuff' in up-and-down outing vs. Mets

Cueto and catcher Jacob Stallings were among those impressed by what they saw of the precocious prospect.

"He had good stuff, good repertoire," Cueto said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. earlier in camp. "The talent this guy has is amazing. We'd love to see him in the big league level at some point."

"I thought the stuff was good," Stallings said after catching him for the first time. "It's an easy delivery, so definitely got a bright future for sure."

After packing up his locker and moving over to the Minor League clubhouse, Pérez ran to the back fields for practice. Like he has all spring, he will work on inducing weak contact for quick outs and improving his stamina to go deeper in games. Pérez will learn how to use his slider and changeup.

"I was very happy," Pérez said via Dorante Jr. on the first day of spring. "I wasn't surprised. I was hoping to get the invitation. But now that I'm here, all I want to do is enjoy every day. Enjoy this time with my teammates and try to find a spot in the big league roster."

If Pérez continues on this path, it's only a matter of time.