David Peterson, the Mets 2017 first-round draft pick, got the call last minute that he would be starting in Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox. In the 8-3 victory, Peterson lived up to manager Luis Rojas’ earlier statement describing the young pitcher as a player who has “poise, maturity, and pitchability” as he had a very solid MLB debut. 

Peterson threw 78 pitches, 51.3% of which were off-speed, allowing two runs over 5 2/3 innings pitched. With 48 of his pitches being strikes, his most dominant pitch was definitely his changeup clocking in around the mid-80s, one of which caught JD Martinez leading him to strike out swinging.

Peterson is well aware that he doesn’t have the great fastball to blow hitters away. Instead he relies on the movement of his pitches and his ability to mix speeds. Peterson’s sinker touched 94 mph, but averaged around 92 mph. He paired that pitch with the aforementioned changeup and a quality slider to keep hitters off-balanced. 

One of the most stressful points in the game for Peterson came up in the third, as the Red Sox loaded the bases with Martinez due up. Peterson fell behind in the count against Martinez, but instead of cracking under the pressure, he proceeded to strike him out on a nasty slider. 

While Kevin Plawecki did score from third on a strange inning-ending double play (one that should have been reviewed), Peterson made it out with minimal damage, giving his team some breathing room with the score still at 3-1.

From there, he remained unscathed until the sixth inning, when Kevin Pillar hit a two-out double which pushed in a run. Peterson then exited the game with the Mets relying on Drew Smith who successfully struck out Mitch Moreland for the last out.  

One of the most notable aspects of Peterson’s performance was his level of composure, even as the game seemed to slip away from him a little. His ability to keep his cool as the Red Sox batters put more pressure on him was very impressive for a young pitcher in his debut. 

In his post-game interview, Rojas backed up his previous statement regarding Peterson’s confidence and poise, elaborating to say that, “Peterson does a great job with his pitch selection and his ability to handle the scenarios thrown at him with maturity”.

Rojas’ statement is on the mark there. Where Peterson lacked in the command of some of his pitches, he compensated with his ability to get himself out of the sticky situations by staying level-headed.

The 24-year-old is the first Mets rookie to earn a victory in their debut since Steven Matz accomplished the feat in 2015. After the game, Peterson spoke glowingly about his first taste of big league action.

“This is one of the greatest days in my life, this is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid. To go out there and make my first major league start and we got the win, I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Peterson finished the game with a 3.18 ERA with his final line consisting of 5.2 IP, 7H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, and 3 SO.

It was a great sight to see Peterson do well in his MLB debut, and is a beacon of hope for a Mets starting rotation which has been hit hard with injuries.