Don't let the young face fool you: On the mound, Nick Pereira means business.
He was a major factor in the breakthrough season for the University of San Francisco in 2005, going 10-3 with a 2.21 ERA as the Dons set a team record with 38 wins.
The San Francisco Giants hope that the right-hander can do the same for their franchise-by-the-bay.
Selected in the 10th round by the Giants, Pereira went 5-3 with a 3.04 ERA for the short-season A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in his first pro turn. His career took off this spring with the High-A San Jose Giants, when he went 7-1 with a 2.06 ERA and 76 strikeouts against 16 walks in 78 2/3 innings.
Pereira earned Giants Organizational Player of the Month honors for April and a June jump to the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies, where he was 2-2, 4.85 through July.
He earned an invitation to the Futures All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, but did not pitch.
Nick is a Bay Area native, a huge fan of the Giants and stars Will Clark and Chili Davis. His parents divorced when he was 3, and his grandmother got him interested in baseball. A former shortstop, he switched to pitching while at De Anza Community College when he produced in an emergency situation. His coach ran out of pitchers and inserted Nick: A star was born.
Pereira throws in the low 90s, with a hard slider. He admits that he needs to get ahead of hitters more and put himself in better situations.
His talents and the need in the Giants system for good arms suggest that he has a major league future, although we think that he will need to dominate a bit more at Fresno, or have a good Fall run, before he accelerates his career to the big leagues. The door to the bigs would seem to open more to the latter part of 2007 if he can maintain the kind of work that he has produced on the mound this season.
- Jim MANDELARO
