Martin Perez: The New Texas Rangers Ace?

Apr 18, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Martin Perez (33) celebrates after defeating the Chicago White Sox 12-0 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

Yu Darvish  is an amazing pitcher and I am very glad that he is with the Texas Rangers, but he has been matched in every aspect by 23-year-old Martin Perez. Is Martin Perez the new Texas Rangers Ace? I think he may be quickly cementing himself as just that. After today Martin Perez now has his scoreless streak at 26 straight innings, and he has pitched back to back complete game shutouts. Pretty amazing. Lets compare Yu Darvish with Martin Perez so far in 2014.

ERA:

Darvish – 1.62

Perez – 1.42

Perez has the slight edge in this category, but they are both ace ERA’s.

Strikeouts

Darvish – 29

Perez – 23

Darvish has the slight edge here, but again both very impressive.

Walks:

Darvish – 8

Perez – 9

Once again, the edge goes to Yu Darvish over Martin Perez.

Innings Pitched:

Darvish – 28.0 (4 starts)

Perez – 38.0 (5 starts)

Martin Perez is obviously doing well here with back to back complete games.

Hits:

Darvish – 23

Perez – 26

Seeing that Martin Perez has pitched 10 more innings than Yu, I say this one goes in Perez’ camp.

Opponents Batting Average:

Darvish – .217

Perez – .208

Both extremely good.

If you look at other things like the eyeball test, than Martin Perez has seemed more in control of his starts than Yu Darvish has, Darvish is sometimes what I like to call “organized chaos”, where he looks bad but he works his way out of the trouble he gets himself into. Martin Perez has had some of those innings as well, but, in my opinion he has looked better overall this season.

So what does all this mean? What it really means to me is that, at the top of the rotation right now, the Texas Rangers have the best 1-2 punch in the American League, and maybe in all of baseball. So who do you think is the Texas Rangers ace right now? Answer the poll below and enjoy the fact that the Texas Rangers have two fantastic starting pitchers in Yu Darvish and Martin Perez!