Pérez Agrees to Lucrative, Four-Year Deal with Texas Rangers

Martín Pérez will be donning red, white and blue on the baseball diamond long term.

The 22-year-old Venezuelan left-handed pitcher has agreed to a lucrative four-year contract with the Texas Rangers that will see him staying put in the Lone Star State through 2017.

Martín Pérez

Perez is guaranteed to pocket $12.5 million with the new deal, which also includes club options for 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Perez, who made his Major League Baseball debut with the Rangers on June 27, 2012, established himself as a full-fledged member of the Rangers’ rotation this past season. He started 20 games and was 10-6 with a 3.62 ERA, striking out 84 and walking 37 while becoming a key cog down the stretch.

After ending the regular season tied for a playoff spot, the Rangers turned to Perez in Game 163 against the Tampa Bay Rays.  He took the loss in that contest, allowing three runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Perez,  long considered the club’s top pitching prospect, posted a 5.45 ERA over 12 games in 2012 before finally living up to expectations last season.

The signing means the Rangers have four of their five projected 2014 starters signed to long-term deals.

Yu Darvish is inked through the 2017 season and Derek Holland‘s contract includes club options that could keep him a Ranger until the end of the 2018 season. Matt Harrison, who was injured most of last year after winning 18 games in 2012, is under contract through 2017 with a club option for 2018. And now Perez could be a Ranger until he’s 29 years old.