Carlos Perez’s love of baseball started when he 4-years old. Growing up in Puerto Rico, the Fairfax graduate spent much of his time on a baseball diamond. At 8-years of age, however, when Perez and his family moved to Virginia, his interest in sports widened. While baseball was still his first love, the diamond began to share time with a basketball court and a swimming lane.
“One of the things that Carlos did was he really honed in on the things that he thought he could be successful at,” said Fairfax head baseball coach Kevin Simonds.
By the time he entered high school, Perez was an accomplished baseball player, basketball player and swimmer. By his sophomore year, however, Perez’s focus was squarely on baseball and swimming – and the Old Dominion-bound Perez excelled at both.
“Carlos is a born leader and he will work as hard if not harder than anyone that I have ever been around,” said Fairfax head swimming coach Matt Salerno, who saw Perez lead the Rebels boys swimming team to a top 10 finish at the AAA Virginia state meet this year. “Carlos is very talented in many things and when he was captain, it was something that Carlos relishes and he made the guys' team better.”
Perez’s leadership skills extended to baseball as well, where he was named the MVT, most valuable teammate, for the 2008 season.
“He kind of hands down won that,” said Simonds. “Throughout the course of the year, when the coaching staff needed something done, guys to go help do something, he was the spearhead leader for that. That was the kind of player and kid that he was.”
“I just kind of lead by example,” said Perez. “If you do the right thing, the others will follow. If I saw that I could help someone, I would give them a hand. I tried to do the little things.”
Perez was named to the All-Concorde District second team as a designated hitter this year, batting .352 with 15 RBI and two home runs. He was also and honorable mention all-district utility player.
“It's not just me that saw what he can bring to the team,” said Simonds.