The Braves announced Sunday that pitcher Williams Perez will make his first major-league start Wednesday against the Rays, with pitcher Eric Stults moving to the bullpen.
Perez was rocked in his major-league debut, giving up four earned runs on two hits and two walks while recording just one out and serving up a home run in a relief appearance on May 8. He fared much better his next time out, giving up one hit and two walks in two scoreless innings while striking out two in two innings on Tuesday. Perez went 2-0 with a 1.33 ERA and 21:9 K:BB ratio in 27 innings across five Triple-A starts before being called up this month.
"[Perez] is a guy who throws strikes and he has a good mixture of pitches," manager Fredi Gonzalez said, per MLB.com. "He's a young guy that could help us in the rotation in the future. So we'll give him an opportunity to start."
Stults has lost each of his three starts in May, posting a 7.00 ERA and 12:2 K:BB ratio in 18 innings this month. He's 1-4 with a 5.36 ERA and 25:8 K:BB ratio in 40 1/3 innings.