Perez Impresses

With veteran closer Jason Isringhausen struggling mightily before landing on the disabled list with a cut on his pitching hand, the St. Louis Cardinals are looking for a late-inning solution to fill the void. While Ryan Franklin has been the emergency stopgap, the team's future closer could very well be rookie fireballer Chris Perez.

The Cardinals recalled the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Perez as soon as Isringhausen hit the DL, and the youngster certainly impressed in his first inning of big league ball. Working the seventh inning of a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Perez was perfect, striking out one while not surrendering a single hit or walk. The 22-year-old right-hander was simply overpowering, routinely registering over 95mph on the radar gun. He even touched triple digits on at least one of his offerings. That's exactly the kind of intimidating fastball needed to become a dominant closer.

Of course, it takes more than just nasty stuff to close games in the big leagues. The job is as much mental as it is physical, and asking a 22-year-old to thrive in such a pressure-packed situation, where the slightest mistake can turn victory into defeat, is risky to say the least. But St. Louis manager Tony La Russa was admiring more than Perez's fearsome fastball. He also liked how composed the kid was on the mound, carrying himself like a true professional. If Isringhausen is unable to recapture his form, the future could become now for Perez and the Cardinals.