Perez has ace mentor preparing him for MLB career

JUPITER

Their bullpen sessions had finished a little more than an hour ago, yet

Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez are nowhere to be found.

Eventually, the two emerge from the weight room inside the clubhouse at the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex.

It turns out the bullpen was just the warmup.

“We had six rounds, working the body from top to bottom,” Perez said Thursday. “Sandy’s a guy that doesn’t stop.”

This isn’t the first time Alcantara has pushed Perez. It very likely won’t be the last.

Alcantara, the Marlins’ ace of the present, has a vested interest in Perez, his hopeful co-ace of the notso-distant future.

“There is a reason why he’s here,” Alcantara said.

Perez, a 19-year-old wunderkind and one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, is willing to learn from the 27-year-old Alcantara, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner.

The pair of Dominican flamethrowers trained together during the offseason, with Alcantara bringing Perez to South Florida to train ahead of spring training.

They have been nearly inseparable since.

It started at Pinecrest Strength & Conditioning during the winter. It continues now in Jupiter with Perez part of big-league camp for the first time in his young pro baseball career.

And, the two hope, it continues with Perez joining Alcantara in the Marlins’ starting rotation.

“What can I say? Sandy’s an unbelievable pitcher,” said Perez, a consensus top-15 prospect in all of baseball. “He’s a Cy Young winner. That’s the ultimate goal as well. I just want to go out there, compete, get to the big-league level and continue working really hard.”

When, exactly, does Perez think he will be ready to join the big leagues?

If Perez had it his way, the continuation would occur right from the start of the 2023 season.

“That’s the goal for everybody inside that clubhouse,” Perez said.

Perez will be given a chance to make his case.

Three of the Marlins’ starting pitchers — Alcantara, Johnny Cueto and Jesus a 1.98 ERA with 69 strikeouts against nine walks and a .166 batting average against over 50 innings.

“It’s like a hot knife cutting through butter,” said Adrian Lorenzo, the Marlins’ senior director of international operations. “These leagues are not easy leagues . ... You run out of superlatives after a certain point.”

EURY PEREZ’S NEXT STEPS

While Perez certainly has confidence that he can pitch in the big leagues right now, he understands there are still areas where he needs to develop.

The simplest could be padding his résumé. Perez has pitched only 155 innings the past two years. He also has yet to throw more than 90 pitches in a game and has completed six innings only twice in 38 career starts.

“I believe probably a little more experience I will need to obtain and face more experienced hitters. Some of this stuff will help me as well,” Perez said. “I think I’m probably going to have to gain a little more weight so I can maintain myself in the game a little longer, gain a little more stamina.”

In addition to experience, Schumaker has a few other criteria on his check list, most of which involve what Perez does outside of his starts.

“There’s a lot of stages and a lot of checking of boxes before you become a major leaguer,” Schumaker said. “And there’s gonna be some growing pains.”

Perez appears up for the challenge. His six-week audition is underway.