After a soul-crushing loss to Miami last night, Mets’ rookie southpaw David Peterson looks to help right the ship for the Amazin’s tonight.
The 24 year old and 2017 first-round pick has impressed so far, sporting a 1-1 record with a 3.86 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and striking out 11 with three walks in 11.2 IP.
His last outing against the Braves on August 2nd was his best so far, scattering three runs over six innings while striking out eight and walking only one.
Petersons’ fast rise to the big leagues was not something the Mets would have predicted in the spring (among many other things) but has served as a blessing considering how thin the starting pitching has been outside the great Jacob deGrom.
Peterson has already shown poise beyond his years on the mound, pitching around baserunners and at times shaky defense, but not yet wavering under the pressure.
He commands three pitches for the most part, but his cutter and fastball seem to the lead way (so far) in getting opposing hitters out.
Peterson overall does not throw particularly hard, but like deGrom he seems to understand what his job is — which is to get hitters out by keeping them off balance, not strikeout the world.
With a season that has had (and still has) so many unknowns, Peterson should be praised for succeeding in a position that many of us thought we would not see the left-hander in for a couple more years at least.
If the Mets want to contend at all this year, they will need to get quality starts from everyone outside of deGrom, which means the pressure will be on young Peterson to continue his early big league success.
Here’s hoping the rookie can start with containing the seemingly red-hot Marlins, and help his reeling team to get a must-needed win at home.
