our 13 th round draftee, Juan Carlos Perez

thanks to NY Daily News and google for this story. Perez set a record for division 2 Junior Colleges with 24 homers this year.  The story is from back in October:

Almonte, Perez take JUCO route in pursuit of pro dreams

BY IAN BEGLEY Tuesday, October 9th 2007 NY Daily News

One ballplayer has been known in the Bronx - and around the country - for six years. The other has been toiling in local men's leagues since his high school playing days ended two seasons ago. But when Danny Almonte and Juan Carlos Perez fly together to Oklahoma on Thursday, both will be clinging to the same goal.

Almonte and Perez will enroll in Western Oklahoma College, a two-year junior college 1,600 miles from the Bronx; both hope to play for the Pioneers this spring, and both hope to attract the attention of a major league organization.  "It's going to be all baseball, all the time," Perez said.

Both ballplayers say that's all they've ever wanted. They'll room together at the 2,000-student school in Atlus, Okla., but the two Bronx kids will have taken decidedly different paths to the dorm.  Almonte gained national infamy when he led the Rolando Paulino All-Stars to a third-place finish in the 2001 Little League World Series and was later found to be two years older than the rest of his 12-year-old competition.

Perez said he played against Almonte in youth leagues in the Bronx, and the two opposed each other in the Monroe-Clinton rivalry in 2006.

Perez, who hit .529 with eight steals his senior year, remembers his stats against Almonte: 1-for-2 in the regular season and 2-for-3 with an RBI in the Governors' playoff loss to Monroe.

When asked about Perez's success against him in high school, Amonte shrugs and smiles. "I don't really remember; it was all a blur," the 20-year-old lefthander said after he and Perez helped the their team to a victory in the Triboro Adult Baseball League last Thursday.

Almonte has been all over the country since he pitched to Perez in the quarterfinals of the PSAL playoffs, his final high school pitching appearance.   Almonte went unselected in the 2006 MLB Amateur Draft and turned down an offer to attend New Mexico Junior College.

Instead, Almonte, Perez and Manny Rodriguez, a former Monroe third baseman, spent the winter at Play Baseball Academy in Miami.  Perez, who stood out in center field during two Triboro Adult League games at Taft HS last week, said he became a student of the game at the academy, learning the finer points of defense and base running from former and current pros.

Perez returned to the Bronx this spring and said he worked out each morning at Mullally Park next to the basketball courts near Yankee Stadium, along with playing in the Triboro league and another one at Crotona Park.

Almonte decided to take his chances in the independent Frontier League, signing with the Southern Illinois Miners in Marion, Ill., last spring. Manager Mike Pinto released him after six starts due to control problems. Almonte posted a 0-1 record with a 5.28 ERA and issued 19 walks in 30 2/3 innings.

Pinto said Almonte had a tendancy to overthrow, and suggested he needed to work a little harder to succeed. "For Danny to be successful, he has to step up his work habits," Pinto said.

Perez and Almonte have played in the Triboro league since Almonte came back to the Bronx in August, and the center fielder said he'd make sure Almonte puts in the requisite work at junior college.

So will Western Oklahoma assistant coach Manny Paula, who played with Almonte at Monroe and against him in the Frontier League.  "That's what we're going to do every day: it will be baseball before class and baseball after class," Paula said during a recent telephone interview.

Almonte said he'd like to play outfield and first base as well as pitch for the Pioneers. Almonte hit .511 and drove in 31 runs in 16 games as a senior at Monroe."After the Little League thing, everyone thought of me as a pitcher," Almonte said. "But I have good numbers as a batter and the coach said I can go down there and ... prove to people I can hit."

Perez plans to pursue a degree in engineering in case things don't work out on the diamond. As for Almonte, he said he would continue to pursue his big-league dream, even if he remains unsigned out of Western Oklahoma.

"I love baseball," Almonte said Thursday after they'd turned the lights out at Taft HS field. "I'm always gonna keep playing, no matter what happens."