Man, I stumbled upon this Jeral Perez kid while scrolling late one night. Baseball Youtube rabbit hole, you know how it is. Heard some buzz, figured why not dig in myself.
First Steps: Hitting Play on the Tape
Opened up my laptop, fired up the browser. Typed “Jeral Perez highlights” first. Wanted the eye test stuff. Watched maybe ten different clips from various games. Kid looks young, real young. Right away you see the swing. Smooth. Got that easy power look, ball just jumps sometimes even when he doesn’t look like he’s going all out.
The Deep Dive Stats Hole
Okay, highlights are fun, but gotta see the nitty gritty. Headed over to the stat sites. Found his numbers from last season in rookie ball. Scanned through:
- Batting Average: Was hovering around .300 early on? Yeah, pretty decent for a kid straight outta the DR.
- Power Numbers: Okay, not huge homer totals in the clips I saw. Looked at the doubles and triples though. Had a bunch! Plus exit velocity numbers from the fancy trackers looked solid for his age. Ball comes off hard.
- Fielding Stuff: Watched him at shortstop. Moves okay, good instincts. Arm strength seems average right now? Couple errors on the tape, not unexpected. Definitely needs reps.
Finding Chatter and Opinions
Clicked over to prospect forums. Lurked for an hour. Everyone seems split! One side is like “Future All-Star bat, just you wait!” Others are like “He’ll have to move off shortstop, bat needs more juice.” Saw comparisons to other guys, some I agreed with, some I thought were wild.
Putting It All Together: My Gut Feeling
Sat back, closed the laptop. Man, he’s raw. Really young, needs muscle, needs reps in the field. The hitting tool though? That stands out. Feel like he’s got a real chance to hit for average and maybe plus power if his frame fills out. Doesn’t look overmatched even against older arms. Arm at short worries me a little – might end up at second or third someday? Could be a slow burn. High risk, potentially high reward kinda guy. Seems like a fun prospect to track, especially if you like seeing young hitters develop. Won’t blame you if you wanna wait and see though!
