The brave and the left hand Martín Pérez have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The Octagon client will likely be in big league camp in spring training.
Pérez, 35 in April, is coming off a season lost to injury. He signed a one-year, $5MM deal with the White Sox to serve as a veteran innings catcher for a rebuilding club. That didn’t work out as the southpaw was on the injured list in mid-April due to inflammation in his elbow. Soon after, he was diagnosed with a flexor strain and it was doubtful he would return to IL.
The veteran finally returned in August but returned to IL in September due to a strained shoulder. During his IL stints, he pitched the White Sox 56 innings with a 3.54 earned run average, 19.3% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 39% ground ball rate.
For most of his career, Pérez has been a finesse lefty. His fastball never topped 94.2 miles per hour and was usually a tick or two below that. He was 91-92 mph in 2023 and 2024. He drops below 90 in 2025 but injuries may play a part in that. He has a mix of six pitches and a four-seamer, sinker, cutter, slider, curveball and changeup.
He was very able to give passable results. In his 1,631 2/3 innings, he has a 4.41 ERA despite striking out only 16.3% of the batters he faced. His 8.3% walk rate is about average and his 48.4% ground ball rate is well above par. He was able to lower his ERA to 2.89 with the Rangers in 2022, and parlayed that into a qualifying offer of $19.65MM for 2023, which he accepted. But that campaign appears to be the exception, as he returned to a 4.50 ERA over the next two seasons.
Atlanta has a good rotation on paper but has question marks throughout the team. Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López, Hurston Waldrep again Grant Holmes probably the top six options right now. Sale won the Cy Young in 2024 but is injury-prone in the seasons around that and will soon turn 37. Schwellenbach missed the final three months of 2025 with a broken elbow. Strider missed most of 2024 due to ulnar collateral ligament surgery and posted a 4.45 ERA in his return last year. Shoulder surgery limited López early last year. Waldrep had a solid 2025 but still has less than 65 major league innings under his belt. Holmes has a slightly torn UCL and is trying to recover without surgery but it will be a question mark until he hits camp.
Given all that uncertainty, depth will be important. Bryce Elder He is on the roster but has posted an ERA north of 5.00 the past two seasons. Hope Didier Fuentes was rushed to the majors in 2025 and looked consistent, allowing 20 earned runs in 13 innings.
Atlanta has been linked to free agents Lucas Giolito again Chris Bassitt earlier this week, so maybe the big move is coming soon. For now, Pérez gives them more depth without taking a roster spot. He will look to pitch his way into the lineup. His chances of success will naturally depend on his performance but also on the health of the rest of the team as things develop in the coming months.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
