Mullet magic: Pérez dominates for Pensacola

In his last outing, Double-A Pensacola's Eury Pérez faced a heavyweight Biloxi lineup featuring fellow Top 100 prospect Jackson Chourio and scuffled.

He had no such trouble carving his way through the Birmingham lineup on Thursday.

Donning a bright green Pensacola Mullets jersey, the Marlins’ top prospect was nearly untouchable across five frames of the Blue Wahoos' 6-0 win, striking out five while only allowing two singles and a walk. Facing 19 batters, the youngest hurler at the Double-A level generated 17 swings-and-misses.

Eury Pérez: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K. And one totally rad jersey. pic.twitter.com/WZrxlSVfBp

— Pensacola Blue Wahoos (@BlueWahoosBBall) April 21, 2023

Pérez had it working right out of the gate, making quick work of leadoff hitter Taylor Snyder by way of a four-pitch K. MLB’s No. 11 overall prospect needed just 11 pitches to get through the first frame, and he would only get more dominant from there.

In the second, Pérez had the Barons swinging at literally everything. The 20-year-old induced six straight swings-and-misses from the first two batters of the frame, and even when Adam Hackenberg made contact on the seventh pitch of the inning, he flew out to right.

Pérez ran into some trouble in the third and fifth frames, but the 6-foot-8 flamethrower was able to work around some self-inflicted wounds to keep the Barons off the board. It’s Pérez’s first scoreless start of the season and the 17th of his career.

The Dominican Republic native is coming off an up-and-down sophomore campaign that saw him rack up 110 strikeouts, but only toss 77 innings due to a lat strain that kept him sidelined for two months.

With the Orioles’ Grayson Rodriguez in the Majors and the Phillies’ Andrew Painter sidelined indefinitely, Pérez is the highest-ranked pitching prospect currently active in the Minors. Marlins fans are eager to see some of their elite pitching prospects reach The Show, and with another strong start in 2023 under his belt, Pérez could be a potential impact callup.