That much is certain. Graham Pauley and Maximo Acosta are still scratching their heads trying to figure out how Pérez does it.
A group of Marlins gather around the billiards table inside the clubhouse at the Marlins Jupiter Academy as Pérez asks Pauley to pick a card (a seven of hearts) and show it to everyone else. Pauley puts it back somewhere in the deck before Pérez shuffles, slaps the cards and shuffles a number of them again. Pérez then demands Pauley put out his hand to place a certain number of cards in between the knuckles of his pointer and middle fingers, with the thumb holding onto the cards. Pérez slaps them to the floor, leaving just one remaining in Pauley’s hand: his seven of hearts.
Disbelief. Amazement.
“When I was a little kid, I always thought I could be a magician, but it's hard,” Pauley said. “I give him major props for being able to pick that up and do that. It worked. I was concerned. I think he was a little concerned too, but he didn't show it, and he did it, and it worked. So pretty cool, actually.”
Pérez will be the first to admit he doesn’t execute the handful of tricks he knows every time. It takes practice. Mistakes will happen, especially when a group gathers and he gets nervous.
With Spring Training games going on, Pérez doesn’t perform the card tricks as much. If someone is close by and not too busy, however, he’ll fool around to keep things light.
“I wasn't ready for that,” Acosta said. “He didn't tell me anything. He just told me, ‘Pick the card.’ I put it in the hand and he shuffled, and he hit it and he picked my finger. It's exactly the same card.”
With tricks literally up his sleeves, Pérez no longer believes in magic, but rather the art of illusions. His new hobby is fun, but is there any possible crossover into baseball?
The flamethrowing righty enters 2026 behind ace and mentor Sandy Alcantara in Miami’s projected rotation. Two years removed from Tommy John surgery, Pérez wants to build off the 104 ERA+ he recorded in a career-high 20 starts over 95 1/3 innings in '25.
“I don’t know," Pérez mused before smirking, “It’s just moving your fingers, make the ball disappear. It’s practice.”
