The next prospect up for review is Eury Perez of the Washington Nationals. Wait, were you expecting Bryce Harper as the prospect to write about from that organization? I think he’s been pretty well covered at this point.
The Basics
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
How Acquired: Signed by the Washington Nationals as an International Free Agent.
Age as of 4/1/11: 20
Scouting Reports and Statistics
Age Tm Lg Lev G R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG 20 Hagerstown SALL A 131 88 131 17 5 3 42 64 13 23 74 .299 .345 .381
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/7/2011.
Prospect Ranks
Hardball Times: #7 (WAS – 2011)
Baseball America: #8 (WAS – 2011)
John Sickels: #9 (WAS – 2011) C+
Baseball Prospectus: #9 (WAS – 2011) 2 star
Top Prospect Alert: #9 (WAS – 2011)
Analysis
Perez was a signee out of the Dominican Republic as a teenager, and made it to his first full-season league in 2010, heading to the Sally League. The biggest skill in his arsenal to this point clearly appears to be his speed, as he stole 64 bases in 131 games there, as well as 21 in 37 Dominican Winter League games. He hit for a nice .299 batting average during the regular season, but there hasn’t really been a lot written about him.
From an MLB.COM chat by Jonathan Mayo, via Federal Baseball:
“Eury Perez is one of those guys that’s kind of interesting to see what happens with him cause he can flat-out run. He made his full season debut just this past season and he hit .299, which is fine, but you don’t know how many of those base hits came just because he can flat-out fly. He only slugged .381, but he stole 64 bases which was among the highest in all the minor leagues, and he has kept on doing it in the Dominican. Keep in mind that he’s just 20-years-old so he’s playing against much older and much more advanced competition. Hit .330 in the Dominican and stolen 20 bases, so he’s showing that the speed might be able to play as he moves up the ladder and that’s the case with these guys, you have to see whether he can swing the bat well enough.”
Here’s what Nationals’ Prospects’ had to say about him as well:
Above-average speed coupled with improved basestealing skills led to 64 steals, 41 of which came in the second half. Scouts project him as a plus defender with accurate-but-average arm. Particularly adept at slashing the ball up the middle and protecting with two strikes, and has enough power to get gappers for doubles and triples.
Overall, I really like the numbers out of him last year, and the scouting reports seem to at least think he has a decent shot of continuing to advance.
Outlook
Perez seems likely to be at High-A for the majority of 2011, and I will be interested to see how he handles the higher quality pitching. The name that seems to keep coming up with regard to comparisons is that of Juan Pierre. He looks like he could have similar power and speed skills, which could definitely translate to the Majors.
Prediction for 2011
.280, 55 SB
Expected ETA
He will be 21 for a majority of the 2011 season, and I believe that if he can continue to progress and improve, he would be in the majors around 2013 or 2014. The Nationals do not necessarily need to rush him, but it may be good for him to be pushEd Higher.
Jason's Baseball Blog 
I believe he had a much better second half than first last year. That continued in winter ball.