Red Sox promote highly touted pitching prospect to Double-A Portland (source)
The Red Sox are promoting highly touted pitching prospect Luis Perales to Double-A Portland, a source confirms to Andrew Parker of Beyond the Monster.
Perales, 21, is coming off one of his best starts of his professional career in his last outing against the Greensboro Grasshoppers on Tuesday.
The right-hander was dominant, allowing just one hit and two walks to go along with a season-high 12 strikeouts over five scoreless frames. He threw 81 pitches (49 strikes) and induced 26 swings-and-misses.
Perales’ 12 strikeouts tie a career high for the No. 9-ranked prospect in the Red Sox system, according to Baseball America.
In total for the year, Perales has posted a 3.42 ERA and 1.98 FIP with 46 strikeouts and 10 walks across seven starts (26 1/3 innings) with the Red Sox High-A affiliate, the Greenville Drive. The righty also ranked first in the South Atlantic League in strikeouts, with 15.72 per nine innings, a strikeout rate of 39.7 percent, and a swinging-strikeout rate of 20.7 percent, per FanGraphs.
Perales missed some time earlier this season dealing with soreness on his side, but since returning to the mound, he’s looked impressive. He’s posted a 2.11 ERA with a great 1.97 FIP and 39 strikeouts to just eight walks over his last five outings (21 1/3 innings), all dating back to April 27.
For the month of May, Perales owns a 1-1 record with a 2.60 ERA with 32 strikeouts to just seven walks over four starts (17 1/3 innings.)
He will join fellow top pitching prospect Wikelman Gonzalez with the Sea Dogs. Both pitchers are on the Red Sox 40-man roster, protected from the Rule-5 draft last offseason.
Perales has the talent and might be the top pitching prospect in the system, but he currently ranks behind Richard Fitts and Gonzalez. One of the keys to Perales’ success of late has been the ability to mix his off-speed pitch offerings and not solely rely on his fastball.
Recently, the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier wrote about the right-hander: “He is throwing harder and with more movement, mixing a mid- to upper-90s four-seamer with a cutter and a diving splitter, the latter a great bottom-of-the-zone swing-and-miss complement to his elevated riding fastball. He also employs an occasional slider.”
The hard-throwing 6-foot-1 and 160-pounder operates with a four-pitch mix that consists of an electric high-90s fastball that has topped out at 99 mph, a low-90s cutter, a low-80s changeup, and a mid-80s slider, according to his SoxProspects scouting report.
With Perales’ promotion to Portland, he will join Gonzalez, Hunter Dobbins, Angel Bastardo, Isaac Coffey, and Helcris Olivarez. Lefty Zach Penrod is also with the Sea Dogs, but he’s been equally dominant on the mound, and a promotion to the WooSox could be imminent.
