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It's not quite official, but it's pretty close to it: Martin Perez is being called up from AAA Round Rock, and will join the Texas Rangers prior to Tuesday's game against the Detroit Tigers. The rumor began on Monday night on Twitter, when Perez' agent tweeted the news. A club official since told T.R. Sullivan that Perez will indeed be called up.
Perez has been inconsistent in 2012, as a 21 year old in AAA. Through 84 and 1/3 innings, Perez owns a 4.59 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and .249 BAA. Perez' strikeout-to-walk ratio leaves something to be desired as well, as he's struck out just 49 batters on the year while walking 38.
At one point in his minor league career, Perez earned comps to Johan Santana. Though he's struggled at various stages throughout the past couple of seasons, he's always been young for his league.
Regardless of his 2010 AA struggles and 2011 AAA struggles, Baseball America ranked Perez as Texas' No. 3 prospect, behind Yu Darvish and Jurickson Profar. While expectations have certainly been tempered over the last couple of years, Perez is still very much so a quality prospect.
In his last two starts, Perez has given up just two earned runs in 16 innings, while giving up just four hits and walking seven.