Who is Eury Pérez?

Eury Pérez has all the makings of an ace. At 6-foot-8 and 200 pounds, he’s an imposing presence on the mound who has the stuff that leaves seemingly every hitter walking back to the dugout muttering to themselves with their bat in their hand. And now it's time for Pérez, who is the No. 10 prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline, to take center stage, with his Major League debut set for Friday against the Reds at loanDepot park, when he will become the youngest pitcher in Marlins history (20 years, 27 days).

Here’s what you need to know about the budding ace before he becomes a household name.

FAST FACTS
Primary position: SP
Height/weight: 6-foot-8, 220 lbs
Bats/throws: Right/right
Birthdate: April 15, 2003 (Age 20 in 2023)
Hometown: Santiago, Dominican Republic
Signed: July 2, 2019 (by MIA)
ETA: 2023

He’s the next great Miami ace

Just when you think the Marlins are done producing star pitchers, a prospect like Pérez comes along -- and he might be the best of the bunch. While such a statement can seem like hyperbole (especially considering Sandy Alcantara won the NL Cy Young in 2022), Pérez is a one-of-one pitching prospect, boasting a fastball that can reach 100 mph, but normally sits between 94 and 97 mph.

He’s not a one-trick pony either, as he complements that with an upper-80s changeup that generated a 61 percent swing-and-miss rate in 2022, along with an upper-70s curveball and a mid-80s slider.

"He was always a high-velocity, fastball-command guy, and now he's got two or three plus pitches to go along with that arsenal," Marlins director of Minor League operations Hector Crespo said in 2022. "The sky's the limit for this one."

In the spring of 2022, Pérez, then 18-years-old, started on Opening Day for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, becoming the youngest player in Blue Wahoos history.

That wasn't the only time he was the youngest person in the room, as he was the youngest player to participate in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game in 2022, where he threw a scoreless inning with a strikeout.

Alcantara’s taken him under his wing

For most of Spring Training, Alcantara and Pérez have been inseparable, so much so that they’ve started playing catch together, throwing bullpens together and going through six rounds of Alcantara’s signature full-body workout together. Those similarities extended to the mound as well, as Pérez maxed out at 99 mph in his first bullpen session of the spring, matching what Alcantara had done a day prior.

"It's just a matter of attacking the zone," Pérez said after the session via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. "It's something that I always see from [Alcantara], and it just stayed in there. That way you know the batters can do their job and I'll do mine and just continue doing that."

He’s already impressed his new manager

Pérez’s second start this spring was an example of the up-and-down nature of baseball. After tossing two scoreless innings, Pérez allowed two home runs in his third inning of work. Even with that rough third inning, Pérez’s velocity maxed out at 99.7 mph -- the fastest velocity of the day. He also tied Justin Verlander for the day’s lead with 10 swings and misses.

“Every outing is going to be a learning lesson for him, good or bad,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said after the outing. “What are the things he can do again the right way, and what are the things that he needs to work on? Honestly, when he got a few hits off him, a couple of extra-base hits, I thought his emotions were really good on the mound still."