Top Tigers prospect Franklin Perez has been diagnosed with a right lat strain, per a team announcement. Though he isn’t expected to require surgery, Perez is going to be sidelined for “a minimum of 12 weeks.”
Perez, 20, was the centerpiece of the major, last-second swap that sent Justin Verlander from Detroit to the eventual world-champion Astros. He’s widely considered the Tigers’ top prospect and one of the fifty or so most promising pre-MLB players in baseball.
Certainly, the near-term Detroit rotation won’t be any different as a result of this news. Despite his immense promise, Perez was not going to be on the major-league roster to open the season. And there’s no reason to expect that Perez’s anticipated timeline for MLB readiness will be drastically altered — let alone that this is an injury that could jeopardize his future.
Still, the timing of the injury means that Perez will at least lose something like half of the coming season. With the Tigers sure to take an ultra-cautious approach to his rehab, and the need for a full reset of his throwing program, Perez may be sidelined for quite some time.
It’s certainly possible, then, that Perez’s ultimate MLB debut will end up being pushed back somewhat owing to the lat problem, which the team says arose in a recent minor-league spring outing. Given that he reached the Double-A level in 2017, Perez might have profiled as a potential candidate for a promotion as soon as the middle of the coming season.
While it would be foolish to guess at when Perez might now first be considered for a first appearance at the game’s highest level, the situation is now different for the rebuilding Tigers. That may not entirely be a bad thing — perhaps the club won’t face a service-time quandary this time next year, for instance — though surely the preference would be for the club’s prized farmhand to have a full and healthy season of development.
This is why the Tigers can’t have nice things.
Because of a random pitching injury to a guy who isn’t projected to see the MLB roster for at least one more year? The Tigers have had close to the least major injuries to the pitching staff for the last 10 years. Your comment makes no sense.
No, but it was funny!
If this tigers team wins more then 40 games I’d be shocked. They have absolutely no major league talent and they’re top prospect just got knocked out. It’s a real shame to see a team this bad in major leagues.
You sound dumb.
I hate to kick them while they’re down but I don’t think any of their players besides Greene, Fulmer, Castellanos, and Wilson would have a spot on most rosters in baseball
Cabrera, Iglesias, McCann, Mahtook and Candelario would make any roster.
Any roster? I could see Iglesias and Mahtook making it as Reserve players and McCann would be a good backup, but they’d all need to fight for a spot. Cabrera provided negative value at this point and Candelario is a guy I forgot about, but I’d like to see him prove himself first
Iglesias is a top 3 defensive SS.
Cabrera provided negative value? Are you f’ing kidding me??? He played all season with TWO herniated discs in his back. No other player would have played through that. He is one of the greatest hitters of all time, chasing history in career BA, hits, HRs and RBIs and people just love to trash him. You know what stop watching the games. You are all freaking pathetic.
Wilson sucks though
People said pretty much the same thing about the Astros just a few years ago.
Still one of the better teams from 2010 to 2016
Verlander, the best pitcher in the history of the organization, didn’t miss time with injuries. Perez cannot measure up to JV: no pitcher in this century will. Expectations need to be reasonable.
I seem to remember a core injury….
Hal Newhouser would beg to differ
The rest of the majors should follow the Yankees model and invest a ton of money in the tertiary support staff that helps guys develop: nutritionists, physical therapists, sports psychologists, masseuses, etc. Many guys like Perez will never reach their peak unless they are instilled with a foundational regimen of disciplined health care early in their career.
Also, on a related note, I think it is interesting to see the players complaining about this year’s free agency market. There hasn’t been much talk about how baseball has produced a ton of great support staff jobs and how the rising costs of operations is also to blame for smaller free agency commitments.
Its not just the owners and players duking it out for the a slice of the pie. This is a hugely growing industry and there are a ton of great workers who are benefiting from the evolution of baseball. It would be interesting to see the support staff form some sort of union too. Then we could have highly publicized free agency for the health care professionals, accountants, bandstand attendants, and grounds keepers.
Or follow a world series championship model like the Astros.