The Red Sox are advancing top pitching prospect Luis Perales from High-A Greenville to Double-A Portland, as initially reported by Andrew Parker of Beyond the Monster.
Perales, 21, recently delivered one of his most impressive performances against the Greensboro Grasshoppers, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out 12 over five scoreless innings. He threw 81 pitches (49 strikes) and generated 26 swings-and-misses.
Josh Norris tweeted a reel of Perales’ 25 swings and misses from that game, highlighting his dominant outing.
This season, Perales has recorded a 3.42 ERA and 1.98 FIP with 46 strikeouts to 10 walks over seven starts (26 1/3 innings) for Greenville. After missing some time last month due to side soreness, he has excelled since returning, boasting a 2.11 ERA (1.97 FIP) with 39 strikeouts to eight walks in his last five appearances (21 1/3 innings) since April 27.
Among 60 South Atlantic League pitchers with at least 25 innings pitched this season, Perales leads in strikeouts per nine innings (15.72), strikeout rate (39.7%), and swinging-strike rate (20.7%), according to FanGraphs. He also has the highest batting average on balls in play (.474), indicating some defensive shortcomings behind him.
Perales has also shown improvements in control and inducing weak contact. As noted by Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, he reduced his walk rate from 12.7% last year to 8.6% this year and increased his groundball rate from around 30% to 47.3%.
At 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds, Perales throws from a high three-quarters arm slot with a medium-to-high leg kick. His repertoire includes a high-90s fastball that reaches 98-99 mph, a low-90s cutter, a low-80s changeup, and a mid-80s slider.
Perales, who will turn 22 next April, was signed by the Red Sox for $75,000 as an international free agent from Venezuela in July 2019. He and fellow Venezuelan Wikelman Gonzalez were added to the club’s 40-man roster this winter to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. Baseball America ranks Perales as the No. 9 prospect in Boston’s farm system and the third-best pitcher behind Gonzalez and Richard Fitts.
In Portland, Perales will join a rotation that includes Gonzalez, Angel Bastardo, Isaac Coffey, Zach Penrod, Helcris Olivarez, and Hunter Dobbins. If any of these pitchers move up to Triple-A Worcester to make room for Perales, Penrod is a likely candidate.
