To understand how Eury Pérez came to be one of the best pitching prospects in the game, you have to go back to where it all began.
As a child, Pérez was called Palillo (“Little Stick”) because of how tall and lanky he was. The 6-foot-8 right-hander now towers over his parents and sisters, who still live in Santiago — the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic — in the neighborhood of Villa Liberación, La Otra Banda.
Eury’s father and grandfathers once played béisbol on the amateur level. Generations would toss a ball in a nearby field, where a young Eury fell in love with the game.
His family has never seen him pitch as a professional in person, but they’ll get that chance tonight.
