Franklin Pérez

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]

In 2022, he returned to action, making 10 starts for the rookie–level Florida Complex League Tigers, and struggling to a 9.59 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 25+1⁄3 innings pitched.[17] In 2023, he made 10 appearances split between the FCL Tigers and Lakeland, posting a cumulative 6.89 ERA with 7 strikeouts in 15+2⁄3 innings of work. On August 4, 2023, Pérez was released by the Tigers organization.[18]