Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said Friday that Perez's (thigh) next start could be with the Marlins, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports.
Perez made his first and perhaps only rehab start Thursday at Triple-A Jacksonville, striking out five over 3.2 innings of one-run ball. He sat in the 96-to-98 mph range with his fastballs and got his pitch count up to 51. Though Perez is not fully stretched back out yet, he could nonetheless rejoin the big-league rotation as soon as next week's series against the Rangers at home. That would mean a return in about four weeks, which is half the time of his initially projected eight-week timeline.