Early this evening the Braves recalled righty Williams Perez from Gwinnett in an effort to reduce the walks from the bullpen.
Perez has been a starter since joining the Braves as an international free agent in 2010 and in Mississippi last season made 25 starts and one relief appearance throwing 133 innings while posting a 2.91 ERA and 1.188 WHIP striking our 94 of the 555 batter he faced and walking just 39. That earned him a promotion to Gwinnett to start this season.
So far this season he made five starts for Gwinnett posting a 1.33 ERA, 1370 WHIP striking out 21 and walking 9 in his 27 IP. There’s been som talk about adding him to the rotation but the Braves are going to use him out of the pen much like they use Cody Martin. Skipper Fredi Gonzalez said that this was a move back to the traditional way of developing starting pitchers and explained the method to Michael Cunningham of the AJC.
"“We are going to develop him out of the bullpen. . .we get we’ll give him a couple innings here, three innings there. You need a spot start, he’s the guy. If there’s a long rain delay or a starter comes out early, he’s the guy. . .That’s the way it used to be done back in the day.”"
Perez gets the call because he throws strikes and that’s been a problem for Braves relievers this year.
Going into tonight’s game the Braves bullpen was second in the league in walks allowed with 42 behind the Phillies’ 54. The bullpen needs help in other areas as well, they are also second in total bases and tied third in home runs allowed with 10. Perez should be a big help with both of those issues, in 2104 with Mississippi he allowed just 4 homers for – a 0.27 HR/9 – and less than 1 hit an inning.
Michael Kohn was optioned to Gwinnett to make room for Perez