The Phillies have several prospects right now to credit to Koby Perez, who served as an international scout for the Phillies. The biggest name of the list, which includes Hector Neris, Lisalverto Bonilla, and Domingo Santana, would be Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco. Perez also signed the top home-grown pitching prospect in the organization, Franklyn Kilome. Unfortunately for the Phillies, they lost Perez to another organization.
Ben Badler of Baseball America reports that the Cleveland Indians have given him a much bigger job:
The Indians have a new top scout in Latin America. Koby Perez, who had been an international crosschecker for the team the last two years, was promoted to director of Latin American scouting, filling the vacancy from the departure of Ramon Pena earlier this month.
Perez has been with the Indians since November 2013, joining the team after spending the previous five years with the Phillies, where he was primarily responsible for scouting in the Dominican Republic.
Badler also credits Perez in signing pitcher Adam Ottovino and Mitch Harris while working with the Cardinals.
The work that the scouts do tends to be overlooked by fans. While it is easy to blame a general manager for the problems in a baseball team, it all begins with a scout finding the player. The Phillies certainly miss Perez.
