Tarik Skubal remembers Wenceel Pérez in the minors as "a shortstop with a really good arm."
"You put him in the outfield," Skubal said after Pérez starred in the Tigers' rout of the A's Tuesday night, "and he can kind of roam free and let that arm go."
With the Tigers leading 7-4 in the seventh, Tyler Soderstrom of the A's lined a ball on one hop off the right field wall and tried to reach second. Pérez fielded the ball calmly, turned his hips with his feet set to throw and fired a bullet to Javy Baez for the first out of the inning.
With a man on first two batters later, Jacob Wilson slashed a ball into right field and dared Pérez do it again. Pérez fielded it cleanly running toward the line, spun and threw another dart to Baez for the second out. What could have been a 7-5 game with runners on second and third and none out was instead another zero for the A's when Chase Lee retired the next batter to end the inning.
"I don't think I've ever seen two outfield assists at second base by the same outfielder, ever," said Skubal, who gave up two early home runs but locked in to last six innings. "I was talking to A.J. (Hinch) about that, I go, 'Have you ever seen that?' He's like, 'Not the same guy twice.'"
Pérez had already doubled home two runs in the third to tie the game at four, getting on top of a high heater from Luis Severino and ripping it down the right-field. He wasn't done. He singled as part of a two-out rally in the seventh and came around to score his second run of the game. He still wasn't done.
With two outs for the A's the ninth, Max Schuemann hit a sinking liner into right. This time, Pérez snared it with a sliding catch that sealed the Tigers' MLB-best 50th win of the season.
"He makes those two (throws), then comes in, gets a knock, scores, and he finishes the game on that play," said Skubal. "Like, I don't know Outs Above Average or Defensive Runs Saved, but it feels like he accumulated a pretty good amount of WAR today."
"What a night," said Hinch.
Hinch is as big a Pérez fan as you'll find. Of course he is: Pérez is not only a maturing switch-hitter with an average over .300 and an OPS over 1.000 since making his season debut last month after recovering from a back injury, but an improving outfielder and a bright light in the clubhouse. Everyone roots for him. He's also an extremely diligent worker.
Before the forecast of rain delayed the start of Tuesday's game, Pérez was in the outfield going through drills with coaches George Lombard and Anthony Iapoce. Lombard and Iapoce have all of the Tigers' outfielders on a throwing program. When Hinch watches Pérez, he sees him "slowing the game down" without sacrificing "his rhythm, his timing and his fundamentals."
"There's a reason they were throwing early today before the rain came. There's a pace to this that he's learning in the outfield at this level, where I would say you have to hurry but you don't rush," said Hinch.
Pérez didn't start playing the outfield at all until 2023. He arrived in Detroit last season with barely 30 games at the position under his belt. The transition has been rocky at times, as you'd expect. But Pérez is growing into himself at all three outfield spots, while starting to prove that his bat belongs in the bigs. Asked about his growing comfort at his new position -- he's logged most of his time in right -- Pérez said, "I feel way better than last year, playing there and playing more."
"As a (natural) infielder, you just have to keep working on it and trying to do a lot of reps with the throws and the fly balls," said Pérez, who explained that maybe the biggest adjustment is making plays on the run. "When your head is moving, with timing, you figure that out."
Speaking of Defensive Runs Saved, Pérez is plus-1 this season in right field. Speaking of WAR, he's second on the Tigers to Riley Greene since rejoining the team. He grinned when asked which of his defensive plays Tuesday night was his favorite and said, "I think all three were my favorite -- but probably the last one that won the game, I think that was the (best) one."
In 23 games since his return, Pérez is fifth in the AL in slugging. He's already popped six homers, including a go-ahead blast against the Rays last Sunday that helped the Tigers salvage the final game of their series in Tampa. His emergence at the plate has lessened Detroit's need for a right-handed bat at the trade deadline. His growth in the outfield, meanwhile, is easy to overlook. Tuesday night, it was hard to miss.
"Wenceel on both sides of the ball tonight was a huge contributor to this win and had a big smile after the game, as he should," said Hinch. "For as much as other guys get talked about, he has quietly been an instrumental part of our season once we got him back from injury."
