Veteran southpaw David Peterson has been a consistent outlier in the New York Mets pitching staff. The 30-year-old lefty, who made his first All-Star appearance last year, has constantly fallen short under pressure. Yet, manager Carlos Mendoza has found a way to utilize Peterson out of the bullpen to try to rejuvenate his season. This strategy involves having him play behind another arm in the limited group of relievers.
Tough Luck
In his first start of the season, Peterson was responsible for giving up six hits and five earned runs. That led to him taking his first loss, as he went on to drop his next one. Allowing four runs to score in five innings of his second loss led to his removal from the rotation.
After rejoining the rotation for his third start, Peterson gave up five hits and seven runs in a 14–2 loss to the Washington Nationals. His -0.6 WAR and 6.53 ERA is the lowest on the team next to Kodai Senga, who has also struggled to start the season. But Senga landed on the injured list due to an injury, while Peterson hasn’t played through any injuries.
A Potential Solution
When Peterson was removed from the starting rotation, Mendoza moved him to the
bullpen. That strategy worked in the Mets favor, as he threw 3 ½ scoreless innings in his first appearance. The next time around, Peterson did allow a run to score in three innings of relief, which are better numbers than what he put up in the previous starts.
“We knew there was a possibility that we were going to go either with an opener or someone in front of Peterson right after his last outing,” Mendoza said in April. “It was communicated to him after his last outing that there was a chance, but we didn’t know until [now].”
Without David Peterson in the rotation, Mendoza used Thobias Myers as a starter. The versatile righty pitched for the first two innings, earning two strikeouts without giving up a run. But now Huascar Brazoban will replace Peterson, who can come out of the bullpen in the Mets series opener against the Colorado Rockies. If they decide to use this approach once again, this can help their slumping pitching staff make some progress.
“I don’t think it matters what my reaction is. It matters what the best decision for the team is. We’re trying to do everything we can to win games,” Peterson told Mike Puma of the New York Post in April.
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