Franklin Perez was the top prospect in the Tigers' organization when he arrived as the centerpiece of the Justin Verlander trade in 2017.
He's thrown a total of 27 innings since -- and he won't be adding to that anytime soon.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch announced Tuesday that Perez will undergo surgery on his right shoulder Wednesday in Los Angeles and "will be out a while."
"Back in spring training we were all looking at him to see where his velocity was and his strength and how the ball was coming out of his hand. We saw little glimpses of improvement and then a step backward, then more improvement and then steps backwards and it just became an endless cycle," Hinch said.
Perez made just two relief appearances in spring training and was placed on the injured list with High-A West Michigan last week due to a right shoulder capsule defect. It's the latest in a long line of health problems for the 23-year-old, who's now the Tigers' No. 15 ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline.
It started in 2018 with a right lat strain that delayed Perez' season debut until June. He was done seven starts later due to a right shoulder injury. And it continued in 2019 when right shoulder tendinitis limited Perez to two starts. COVID-19 wiped out the minor league season in 2020.
Along the way, Perez has lost the mid-90's fastball that once made him one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. He was throwing mostly in the high 80's this spring. He's yet to pitch beyond High-A in the Tigers' organization after posting a 3.09 ERA for the Astros' Double-A affiliate in 2017.
"He didn’t look particularly great the entire spring from a health standpoint," Hinch said. "He was working hard, he was upbeat, his feedback was mostly positive, but when you go from a guy who’s thrown in the mid to upper 90’s to having to reinvent himself, there was a little bit of a red flag that came about during the spring."