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Signed for $75,000 out of Venezuela in July 2019, Perales put himself on the prospect map when his fastball reached 95 mph in the Dominican Republic's Tricky League a month later. Because of the pandemic, minor injuries and getting handled with care, he worked just 127 1/3 innings in his first four years a pro. He dominated early last season, striking out 39 percent of the batters he faced while reaching Double-A in June at age 21, but he blew out his elbow in his second start there and had Tommy John surgery later that month.Perales makes up for a lack of physicality with lightning-quick arm speed that generates four-seam fastballs that sit at 95-98 mph and touch 99 with a flat approach angle and huge carry up in the strike zone. He made progress with his secondary pitches last season, particularly with an upper-80s splitter that features devastating tumble when it's on. He uses both a sweeping low-80s slider and a tighter upper-80s cutter, with the latter pitch improving significantly in 2024.While Perales is athletic and gets down the mound well to create extension, he's also small for a starter and throws with some effort. He looked more like a pitcher than a thrower last year, cutting his walk rate to 8 percent (down from 13 percent in his first three pro seasons) and using his secondary offerings more often rather than just dominating with his fastball. The Red Sox still are convinced that he can become a frontline starter, though he'll miss the 2025 season and other clubs think it's more likely he'll become a closer.
There were 43 pitches thrown at 100 mph or harder during the 2025 Arizona Fall League. Luis Perales was responsible for 20 of them.If there were any concerns about how the velocity would bounce back for the Red Sox's No. 9 prospect following Tommy John surgery in June 2024, those were quickly quelled during his turn with the Salt River Rafters.Perales made his return to game action this September, making three brief appearances between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester. Add in the fact that he’ll turn 23 next April, and the Venezuela native is knocking on the door of Fenway Park.But he’s far from a finished product.Perales led Salt River with 15.1 K/9 and finished in the circuit's Top 10 with 19 strikeouts, while consistently showing off his premium velocity – which maxed out at 101.1 mph. But he also ran into issues with walks and hard contact, which led to a 10.32 ERA across his six appearances.“I think the biggest thing for him is to attack hitters, make them put the ball in play,” said Salt River manager Eric Patterson. “I know strikeouts are a big thing now, but I think sometimes these guys get caught up in trying to strike guys out on strike one. It's like, ‘Hey man, if we continue to stick in the zone, you will get your strikeouts.’ It's pounding the zone, focus probably more so on getting outs, and striking people out and all that stuff will take care of itself.”Ultimately, the Fall League was an (abbreviated) six-start spin against some of the best offensive prospects the sport has to offer. The biggest takeaway was summed up best by Patterson, who got to watch Perales from field level each time he took the mound:“He goes about his work the right way, has an idea of what he wants to do," Patterson said. "Electric arm, really good stuff.”
While all 3 pitches looked sharp, the one that stands out the most is his 4-seam fastball, which he sat 99.6 MPH with and ran up to 100.5 MPH in his outing. Triple-digit fastballs aren’t exactly rare in today’s game, but what is is the movement he gets on the pitch. Perales’ fastball averaged 18.1 inches of vertical break in his outing yesterday, ranking in the top 60 in that category among all pitchers in the majors. Of pitchers who average at least 99 MPH on their heater, like Perales, only Brewers closer Trevor Megill had more IVB on average with his fastball.It’s no wonder with the velocity and movement that Perales’ 4-seam has that his stuff+ rating on the pitch was a whopping 124, meaning it is 24% better than the average 4-seam fastball in baseball. Not only that, but according to Thomas Nestico’s stuff+ rankings on fastballs, Perales’ heater would have been the highest rated fastball in the bigs in 2025, eclipsing the aforementioned Megill at 119, Mason Miller at 118, and Ryan Helsley, Chase Burns, and Aroldis Chapman at 117. Pretty good company for your fastball to be in.
2.1 IP, 2 hits, 1ER, 3 walks, 1 strikeout.This guy needs to be a reliever
Perales struck out roughly 12 per nine while struggling badly with walks throughout the first four seasons of his career with the Red Sox before he had Tommy John in the middle of 2024. He returned toward the very end of the 2025 regular season, labored through 11.1 Fall League innings, and then was swapped in a challenge trade for lefty starter Jake Bennett (a deal I liked the other end of) after some of Boston’s braintrust transitioned into leadership positions with Washington. Perales broke 2026 camp as part of Rochester’s rotation, and early on has continued to struggle badly with walks.Release inconsistency plagues Perales, who struggles to throw strikes at a clip north of a 60%. He has nearly elite arm strength and will sit 97-100 mph, albeit in shorter outings than is typical for a starter because he often fails to work deep into games; he has finished the sixth inning of a start just once in his entire career. Though his surgery will likely afford the Nationals an additional option year, Perales’ timeline to flesh out his innings count to a starter-y level is so compressed that he’d project as a reliever here even if he had better command. That said, his stuff is good enough that he should still be a very good one. In addition to his upper-90s fastball, Perales has a cutter that will touch as high as 96, and he mixes it with a mid-80s slider in unpredictable fashion. The nasty changes of shape and velocity allow him to bully the strike zone (when he can find it) without precision and still limit contact quality and generate a lot of whiffs. Perales’ splitter is also nasty, but his feel for locating it is so bad that it’d be surprising if it performed like a plus pitch. The role he’s destined for isn’t necessarily that of a setup man or closer, but it’s possible he could be a multi-inning, mid-game weapon, and that’s still a role to value highly, as Perales’ arm strength is enough to overwhelm big league hitters.
The Venezuelan-born righty Luis Perales began pitching for Rochester this afternoon. In 4.2 innings of work, Perales allowed four hits and a strikeout, while holding Lehigh Valley scoreless. RHP Andre Granillo replaced Perales due to injury with two outs in the fifth.
