Wenceel Perez making case for Tigers recall after destroying Mets top prospect amid hot streak

The Detroit Tigers decided to keep outfielder Wenceel Perez off the Opening Day roster, but that looks like a mistake with the way he is hitting the ball in Triple-A. He is making a strong case to be recalled to the major leagues with his hot bat.

Perez already has two home runs down in Triple-A and his most recent one was an incredibly impressive swing of the bat against New York Mets pitcher Jonah Tong.

The ball left Perez's bat at 116 miles per hour. Tong is no slouch as he pitched quite well at times for the Mets last year and is an exciting young prospect so if Perez is doing stuff like that in the minors it seems like it will only be a matter of time before the Tigers ask him to start doing it in the majors again.

Wenceel Perez making a strong push to be back with the Tigers

Perez has had success at the big league level before. The 26-year-old slashed a collective .243/.304/.405 with 22 home runs and 80 runs batted in across his first two seasons with the Tigers.

Those are not awful numbers by any stretch, but he still needed to have a strong spring training to make the club this year and he did not deliver. He only hit .190 down in Florida and even though he had two home runs and 8 RBI, it was not enough to make the club.

Detroit already has a lot of outfielders on the active roster as there are six guys on the team who are currently designated as outfielders. But if there is an injury or if one of those guys starts slumping then the Tigers will have no other choice than to give Perez another shot with the way he is swinging the bat.

Maybe getting sent down to the minors is exactly the sort of wake up call he needed to bring about a big, breakout season. Competition can often bring out the best in players and now that he has to fight for a spot on the team perhaps it will lead to his best stuff.

He has not spent all that much time in the minors ever since he got promoted to the big leagues back in 2024. He probably didn't get complacent last season but that's always a possibility if a player starts to feel like his spot on the team is reasonably assured.

No matter what, he is hot now and that is all that matters. If he keeps hitting absolute bombs like the one he hit off Tong then a call-up could certainly be in his near future as he tries to bounce back.