gold star for USAHOF

Warning: Attempt to read property "params" on null in /home/notinhal/public_html/plugins/k2/k2canonical/k2canonical.php on line 382

Oliver Perez

Oliver Perez had a long and successful career of 20 seasons in the Majors, playing for eight different teams. He recorded over 1,500 strikeouts, which is an impressive feat for a pitcher who had such longevity in the sport.

Perez had two distinct phases in his career, the first half as a starter and the second half as a reliever. He started his career in San Diego, then moved on to Pittsburgh, where he had an exceptional season in 2003, with a career-high of 239 strikeouts and a league-lead in SO/9 (11.0). He also had his best ERA (2.98) and WHIP (1.163) as a starter. However, he faced some control issues over the next few years. He did have a decent season in 2007 as a New York Met (15-10, 3.56 ERA, 174 K) and fanned 180 the year after. Perez struggled again, and the Mets released him after the 2010 season. In 2012, he made his way back to MLB, this time as a reliever in Seattle.

Perez's performance as a reliever was similarly inconsistent to his performance as a starter. He bounced around from team to team, going from the Mariners to Arizona, Houston, Cleveland, and then Arizona again. During this phase of his career, Perez finished 80 games with 5 saves. He won 74 games against 94 losses, with 1,546 strikeouts.

Despite his impressive career, Perez is unlikely to receive a Hall of Fame vote. However, it has happened before that a 20-year veteran is left off the ballot.