Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports

A day after Tylor Megill tossed four scoreless innings against the Miami Marlins, David Peterson followed suit in a start against the Washington Nationals. While it might’ve come in a 5-0 loss on Tuesday, Peterson made his return to the mound for the first time in 10 days. And he looked sharp.

Avoiding an injury scare after he took a comebacker off his foot less than two weeks ago, Peterson picked up where he left off. The 27-year-old left-hander struck out five Nationals across four scoreless innings, in which he did not allow a hit. The only trouble he faced was in the third inning, when Nationals right fielder Stone Garrett reached on catcher interference by Francisco Álvarez. Garrett stole second and reached third on a passed ball by Álvarez, but was left stranded as Peterson got catcher Keibert Ruiz to line out to third baseman Brett Baty to end the threat.

Only one more batter reached base against Peterson, as Washington left fielder Alex Call walked with one out in the top of the fourth. Peterson finished his outing by notching his fifth and final strikeout and inducing a ground out to end his outing on a strong note. 

Peterson tossed a spring-high 68 pitches on Tuesday, with 41 of them going for strikes. He recorded 13 whiffs on 32 swings, good enough for a whiff rate of 41%, per Baseball Savant. Peterson primarily used his four-seamer (43%) during Tuesday’s outing, and got six whiffs with his primary pitch, which had a max velocity of 95.8 mph on the afternoon. Peterson’s four-seamer was averaging 93.3 mph, which is 0.4 below his yearly average. On the other hand, Peterson’s slider, which he tossed 16 times (24%) Tuesday, was averaging 87.1 mph, which is up 2.7 mph from his yearly average.

Tuesday marked the first time this spring that Peterson has pitched beyond two innings, having pitched two innings apiece in each his two previous outings against the St. Louis Cardinals on Feb. 27 and Marlins on March 4. 

In eight innings this spring, Peterson has struck out nine batters — which is second on the team to reliever John Curtiss— while walking four batters in that same time frame. Peterson has yet to allow a hit this spring, as he continues to make his case for making New York’s Opening Day roster as the team’s No. 5 starter.

Peterson’s chances of making the Mets’ rotation have become increasingly likely due to José Quintana’s injury, which should sideline him for the majority, if not all of the first half of the 2023 campaign. Mets general manager Billy Eppler announced Tuesday that Quintana will undergo surgery (bone graft) later this week after it was discovered that the 34-year-old right-hander had a benign lesion on his rib. Quintana’s recovery will go until at least July, meaning that Peterson’s role with the Mets in 2023 will likely be an extensive one, rather than serving as stretched-out rotation depth in the minor leagues.

Peterson’s strong outing on Tuesday will make for a tough decision for Mets manager Buck Showalter and his fellow coaches, as they finalize the pitching staff in the coming weeks. Though, Showalter did say that the Mets will use a six-man rotation at times this season, despite Quintana being out until at least July, according to our own Michael Mayer.

In any event, Peterson returning from a 10-day absence to toss four scoreless, hitless innings is a good sign for New York’s rotation depth, which has already been tested before the start of the regular season.