Franklin Eduardo Pérez Montoya (born December 6, 1997) is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers organization.
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Franklin Pérez | |
---|---|
Detroit Tigers | |
Pitcher | |
Born: (1997-12-06) December 6, 1997 (age 24) Valencia, Venezuela | |
Bats: Right Throws: Right | |
Pérez signed with the Houston Astros as an international free agent in July 2014.[1] He made his professional debut in 2015 with the Dominican Summer League Astros and was promoted to the Gulf Coast Astros later that season.[2] He posted a combined 1–4 record and 4.50 ERA in 50 innings pitched between both teams. He pitched 2016 with the Quad Cities River Bandits[3] where he went 3–3 with a 2.84 ERA in 66.2 innings. He began 2017 with the Buies Creek Astros and after pitching to a 4–2 record and 2.98 ERA was promoted to the Corpus Christi Hooks in July where he posted a 3.09 ERA in 32 innings.
On August 31, 2017, the Astros traded Pérez to the Detroit Tigers, along with Jake Rogers and Daz Cameron, for Justin Verlander.[4] The Tigers assigned him to the Erie SeaWolves but he did not play for them in 2017.[5][6]
Prior to the 2018 season, he was rated as the Tigers top prospect and one of the top prospects in the minors overall.[7][8][9] Due to a recurrence of a lat injury he suffered in 2017, Perez played in just seven games between the Gulf Coast Tigers and the Lakeland Flying Tigers in 2018.[10] In those seven games, he went 0–2 with a 6.52 ERA in 19 innings. The Tigers added him to their 40-man roster after the 2018 season.[11] Perez appeared in just two games for Lakeland in 2019 due to chronic shoulder injuries.[10]
Pérez did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] Pérez was added to the Tigers’ 60-man player pool for the 2020 season but did not play in a major league game, instead playing the season at the alternate training site.[13]
On May 11, 2021, it was announced that Pérez would undergo surgery on his pitching shoulder, putting him out for “awhile”.[14] The next day, Pérez was placed on waivers by Detroit.[15] On May 14, Pérez re-signed with the Tigers organization on a minor league contract.[16]