Texas Rangers to Skip Veteran Starter in Rotation

The Texas Rangers are electing to skip veteran lefty Martin Perez in the rotation, holding him back until after the All-Star break.

The Texas Rangers are skipping veteran starting pitcher Martin Perez in the starting rotation this weekend and will hold him back until after the All-Star break.

The following update comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:

Perez's next turn in the rotation will be skipped, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reports.

ANALYSIS
Perez was originally lined up to start Saturday's game against the Nationals, but his next start will now have to wait until after the All-Star break. Cody Bradford will likely start Friday against Washington, pushing back Andrew Heaney into Saturday as Perez's replacement. Perez finishes the first half of the season with a 4.81 ERA and 1.48 WHIP through 91.2 innings.

Perez's first half is certainly not awful, but it's a bit of a blight on the Rangers, who have had a great first half of play. Entering play on Thursday, Texas is is 51-36 and in first place in the American League West.

Perez is in his 12th year in the big leagues with the Rangers, Twins, and Red Sox. It's his second tour of action with the Rangers. He spent 2012-2018 in Arlington and returned in 2022.

The 32-year-old native of Venezuela is 82-80 lifetime with a 4.46 ERA. He made the All-Star team with Texas in 2022.

There is no indication as to the reason for Perez being skipped. Perhaps it's performance-based, and perhaps it's just to give him extra time to recover before the second half begins.

The Rangers finish out a series with the Red Sox on Thursday night before ending the first half with three games against the Nationals.

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