Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 02, 2004
Oliver!

Oliver Perez showed again today why he's leading the NL in K's per 9. He struck out 11 in seven innings vs. the Brewers, while walking only one. He's cut his walks down from last year, and it shows in his 3.22 ERA. Looks like the Pirates have themselves the making of a future star here.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:12 PM | Pennant Races | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Last year I remember a game when he was pitching for San Diego and they were in the southside of Chicago. I saw the probables for the day and thought "who the heck is this Perez guy? The White Sox have this one in the bag." ...but San Diego won it 1-0. I've been keepin' an eye on him since then. I was surprised they gave him to Pittsburgh so "easily", with the talent he's got. I'll be surprised if he stays in Pittsburgh.

A couple months ago I grabbed him for my fantasy team, I couldn't believe nobody had him. *grin* ...he may not win a lot (Pirates bullpen's blown a few games for him and the offense seems to be stale at times) but he is gettin' the K's.

Posted by: Devon at July 2, 2004 09:56 PM

Jeff Brantley did a short piece on him for Baseball Tonight this evening. Consistently in the mid-90's, nice breaking ball, and comes from the side (more 3/4 I guess). And he comes right after 'em. Maybe he's another Curt Schilling type - loads of talent but needed to cycle through a few teams before he figured that out.

Posted by: JP at July 2, 2004 10:34 PM

Part of the credit for Perez's success this year has to go to Spin Williams, who made some adjustments to his mechanics. He struggled with them at first (see his spring training numbers) but got it together right as the season started and never looked back.

I'm curious to see if he decides to pitch in winter ball again. The Pirates were pretty mad that he did that last year and a lot of fans questioned his dedication to the team. He responded to that challenge pretty well I'd say.

Posted by: Rowdy at July 3, 2004 02:08 AM