Tigers' Perez could miss three months

Franklin Perez never got into a regular-season game in a Tigers uniform after his trade from the Astros late in the year. Now it's going to be a little longer before he can put on the new jersey.
Detroit tweeted that its top prospect suffered a right lat strain Sunday during a Minor League Spring Training game and could be out at least 12 weeks. They added surgery is not recommended at this time.

In his third pro season, Perez went 6-3 with a 3.02 ERA, 78 strikeouts and 27 walks in 86 1/3 innings over 19 games (16 starts) between Class A Advanced Buies Creek and Double-A Corpus Christi. Showing his versatility, MLB.com's No. 39 overall prospect spun a complete game on June 17 while converting two saves in two opportunities a month later.

On Aug. 31, Perez was traded with catcher Jake Rogers and outfielder Daz Cameron in exchange for big league ace Justin Verlander. After spending some time with his new teammates at Double-A Erie, Perez and the other two former Astros went to the instructional league to get to know the Tigers system better and vice versa.
"We took it very easy with Franklin, just late in the season, innings and all that," Tigers director of player development Dave Owen said in December. "So just threw him a couple of bullpens and let him get acclimated to us and the system."
Perez, who turned 20 in December, features a four-pitch mix, highlighted by his fastball and changeup. The Venezuela native has a career 3.33 ERA in 203 innings since being signed in 2014.