Martin Perez returns to Braves, opens Phillies series on mound

It’s been quite an eventful week for Martin Perez. After allowing one run over five innings in the Braves’ 6-0 loss to Cleveland on Saturday, he was designated for assignment but elected free agency when he cleared waivers on Tuesday. However, he rejoined the Braves on a minor league contract Wednes

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It’s been quite an eventful week for Martin Perez.

After allowing one run over five innings in the Braves’ 6-0 loss to Cleveland on Saturday, he was designated for assignment but elected free agency when he cleared waivers on Tuesday. However, he rejoined the Braves on a minor league contract Wednesday and was officially brought back to the Atlanta roster Friday morning.

That lands him right back where he was at this time last week, taking the mound the fifth spot in the Braves’ rotation as Atlanta

kicks off a three-game road series against the Philadelphia Phillies Friday evening.

Perez, 35, was viewed as more of a depth piece when he signed a minor league contract with the Braves in late January. As the injuries stacked up, though, his case for a roster spot grew and eventually came to fruition.

Now in his 15th major league season, Perez has largely been what Atlanta needed from a fill-in starter. In three games (two starts), he’s allowed five runs over 14 1/3 innings for a 3.14 ERA. He’s never really been a strikeout pitcher and has just six this season, but has managed well with a 0.91 WHIP.

Per Baseball Savant, he’s in the ninth percentile in whiff percentage and third percentile in strikeout percentage. However, he’s in the 87th percentile in barrel percentage and 83rd percentile in hard-hit percentage.

Atlanta will be looking for Perez to set the tone against Philadelphia as it looks to move back atop the NL East this season after a two-year lull. After the Braves had won the regular-season series against the Phillies each of the last four years, Philadelphia claimed the season series for the first time since 2019 last year, winning eight of 13 games against Atlanta on the way to its second straight division title.

The Phillies, though, have not been at their best early this season. They enter this series with an 8-10 record having lost three straight series, most recently losing two of three to Arizona and the Chicago Cubs at home.

They are tied for 10th in the league in home runs (20), but 23rd in batting average (.229), 22nd in on-base percentage (.309) and 18th in slugging percentage (.381).

It hasn’t been much better on the mound for Philadelphia. Without Zach Wheeler early this season as he nears a return from thoracic outlet decompression surgery which included the removal of a rib which he kept, they’re 26th in the league in ERA (4.92) and dead last in opponent’s batting average (.276).

While Cristopher Sánchez has picked up right where he left off (the Braves will see him Saturday against Chris Sale in a battle of the aces), a number of other starters have struggled in the early going. That includes veteran RHP Taijuan Walker (1-2, 7.36 ERA), who the Braves will face in the series opener.

Walker was hit hard in his first two starts of the season, allowing a combined 17 hits and 10 earned runs over 9 2/3 innings in losses against the Nationals and Rockies. But he may have found something last time out against the Diamondbacks, allowing two runs on four hits over five innings with a season-high six strikeouts and two walks.

He did allow one more home run in that win, though, running his season total to four.

Friday’s game will be the only game of the weekend with the local broadcasting crew of Brandon Gaudin and C.J. Nitkowski. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on FOX, and Sunday’s will be back on NBC/Peacock for the second straight week.