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The great 2012 Purdue baseball team now has a THIRD major leaguer. Cameron Perkins, who was not even on the 40-man roster for Philadelphia at the beginning of the season, has been doing so well at Triple-A Lehigh Valley the Phillies basically had no choice but to give him his long-awaited call:
#Phillies have selected the contracts of LHP Hoby Milner and OF Cameron Perkins.
— Phillies (@Phillies) June 20, 2017
Perkins, a 6th round pick of Philadelphia in 2012, Was a first team all-Big Ten selection that year as he led Purdue to its first Big Ten title in 2013 years. He batted .355 with a team-high 9 home runs and 61 RBI as Purdue hosted a regional for the first time and made the NCAA Tournament for only the second time.
Since then he has played in 583 games in the minors, patiently waiting as Nick Wittgren and Kevin Plawecki got their initial calls to the Show. He has done well, however. He batted .304 in his first season of short-season A ball and .295 the next year in High-A ball for Clearwater. In 2014 he batted .342 at Double-A Redding, earning a promotion to Triple-A for the second half of the year. He spent all of 2015 at Double-A where he batted .252, but was back up in Triple-A last year for Lehigh Valley. This season he is batting a solid .298 with 6 homers and 21 RBI in 63 games.
Last season he was even a Triple-A all-star, but because he was not officially on the MLB 40-man roster he was on a minor league contract and had to work as a barista in Wisconsin during the offseason.
Perkins is from Southport, originally, and has regularly come through his hometown with Lehigh Valley to play the Indians. He looks set to join the team in Philadelphia either tonight or tomorrow against St. Louis.
Perkins also gives Purdue a chance at having FOUR alums all in Major League Baseball at the same time. Plawecki is currently on the 40-man roster for the Mets, but was sent to Triple-A Las Vegas on May 25th. Wittgren is on the active roster for the Marlins. Finally, Josh Lindblom was on the disabled list for the Pirates and sent back to Triple-A Indianapolis for a rehab assignment, but can rejoin the team soon.
If Lindblom and Plawecki can get recalled at the same time Wittgren and Perkins are up it is likely the first time ever Purdue will have four players in Major League Baseball at the same time.