Odalis Pérez
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Pérez with the Nationals in 2008 Photo by Chris Nelson |
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|---|---|
| Washington Nationals — No. 45 | |
| Starting pitcher | |
| Born: June 11, 1977 Las Matas de Farfán, Dominican Republic |
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| Bats: Left | Throws: Left |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| September 1, 1998 for the Atlanta Braves | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through May 8, 2008) |
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| Win-Loss | 66-73 |
| Earned run average | 4.43 |
| Strikeouts | 835 |
| Teams | |
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Odalis Amadol Pérez (born June 11, 1977 in Las Matas de Farfán, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Washington Nationals. Previously, he played with the Atlanta Braves (1998-2001), the Los Angeles Dodgers (2002-2006), and Kansas City Royals (2006-2007).
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[edit] Personal
Pérez is a 1995 graduate of Damian Davis Ortiz High School in his homeland. He is currently single, but has a son, Odalis, Jr. Pérez has participated in community baseball clinics for the Dodgers and the Manny Mota International Foundation and has also visited schools in Los Angeles area as part of the Dodger Jams program.
[edit] Professional career
[edit] Atlanta Braves
On May 2, 1999, Pérez got his first victory pitching 5.2 innings and allowing two earned runs with seven strikeouts, as Atlanta rolled to a 5-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
On January 15, 2002, he was traded by the Braves with Andrew Brown (minors) and Brian Jordan to the Dodgers for Gary Sheffield.
[edit] Los Angeles Dodgers
In a two-year period from 2002-2003, he won 27 games (15 in 2002, 12 in 2003), which was tied for the third most wins by a left-handed pitcher in the National League, joining Tom Glavine behind Randy Johnson and Al Leiter, and 10th most in the majors. Beside this, he was the first Dodger left-hander to register at least 12 wins in consecutive seasons since Fernando Valenzuela accomplished the feat between 1986 (21) and 1987 (14). During the same period, Pérez also had the sixth-most strikeouts mark (296) among all majors lefties, ranking fourth in the National League behind Johnson, Randy Wolf and Leiter.
Also in those two seasons, Pérez allowed two earned runs or less in 33 of his 62 starts, being selected to the All-Star game in 2002 — a season in which he pitched a pair of one-hitter games.
[edit] Kansas City Royals
On July 25, 2006, Perez and two minor league pitchers (Blake Johnson and Julio Pimentel) were traded to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Elmer Dessens. Cash considerations were also sent to the Royals in the deal.
On October 31, 2007, the Royals declined Perez's $9 million option and paid him a $1.5 million buyout.[1]
[edit] Washington Nationals
On February 19, 2008, Pérez signed a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals and was invited to spring training. Pérez had his contract purchased by the Nationals on March 20, 2008.
Perez got the Opening Day start for Washington on March 30, 3008. He gave up the first home run in the history of Nationals Park, to Chipper Jones in the top of the 4th. He gave up one run and surrendered 4 hits over 5 innings and ended up with a no-decision. Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk-off home run later that game to win the first game in the history of Nationals Park, 3-2. He also struck out the first batter and delivered the first pitch in the history of Nationals Park.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
