Mariners Sign Oliver Perez to Minor League Contract
With the Mariners signing of LHP Oliver Perez to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training, the club has added another experienced arm to compete in Peoria for a spot on the Mariners roster. Mariners Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations Jack Zduriencik said he expects Perez to compete for a spot in the bullpen during spring training.
Although he is just 30 years old, Perez already has nine big league seasons under his belt after making his Major League debut at the age of 20 with the San Diego Padres in 2002.
Oliver Perez signed a minor league contract with the Mariners and will participate in Major League Spring Training (Getty Images)
Perez most recently had a successful stint in the Mexican Winter League where he struck out 19 in 14.1 relief innings with a 0.63 ERA. He spent the entire 2011 season with AA Harrisburg in the Nationals organization after logging Major League service time in each of his previous nine seasons (2002-2010).
Oliver Perez has averaged 9.12 K/9.0 IP during his Major League career (Getty Images).
Oliver has logged 1,111.2 innings in his Major League career and has struck out 1,126 batters (9.12 K/9), making him just one of eight pitchers in Major League history who have struck out more than a batter per inning (with a minimum of at least 1,000 innings pitched).
Not a bad list:
| Rk | Player | IP | SO | From | To | Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Randy Johnson | 10.61 | 4135.1 | 4875 | 1988 | 2009 | MON-SEA-ARI-NYY-SFG |
| 2 | Kerry Wood | 10.34 | 1371.1 | 1576 | 1998 | 2011 | CHC-CLE |
| 3 | Pedro Martinez | 10.04 | 2827.1 | 3154 | 1992 | 2009 | LAD-MON-BOS-NYM-PHI |
| 4 | Tim Lincecum | 9.87 | 1028.0 | 1127 | 2007 | 2011 | SFG |
| 5 | Nolan Ryan | 9.55 | 5386.0 | 5714 | 1966 | 1993 | NYM-CAL-HOU-TEX |
| 6 | Trevor Hoffman | 9.36 | 1089.1 | 1133 | 1993 | 2010 | SDP-MIL |
| 7 | Sandy Koufax | 9.28 | 2324.1 | 2396 | 1955 | 1966 | BRO-LAD |
| 8 | Oliver Perez | 9.12 | 1111.2 | 1126 | 2002 | 2010 | SDP-PIT-NYM |
A big thank you to the invaluable Play Index tool at Baseball-Reference.com.
-FA
Nine Seasons with The Friars but signed to a Minor League contract. Safeco will protect him when he gets called up.