Atlanta Braves claim Eury Perez from New York Yankees
Today the Atlanta Braves claimed 24-year-old Eury Perez off of waivers from the New York Yankees, according to MLB Trade Rumors.
The Yankees picked Perez from the Washington Nationals off of waivers last September, where he played in just four games. He spent the bulk of his 2014 campaign with Washington’s minor league system, getting a majority of his playing time with Triple-A Syracuse.
At that level, Perez played in 57 games and put up a solid triple slash of .311/.372/.406. Perez strengths certainly aren’t with a bat in his hands, but he’s got plus speed and has stolen at least 24 bases every year since 2010. He’s also seen as an above average defender in center field and was rated in Washington’s system as the top defensive centerfielder in 2010 by Baseball America.
Perez hasn’t done much at the major league level in his brief 26 games in the bigs, garnering a “career” .174/.174/.174 triple slash and -0.1 WAR in 26 total games between the Nationals and Yankees.
Perez might get some time if B.J. Upton continues to struggle, but given the strengths Upton still possesses (speed and solid defense) I would think Upton is capable of playing at the level Perez would be able to offer.