Port St. Lucy – This was the version of David Peterson that the Mets came to know last year.
Southpaw missed his first grapefruitreeg against the Marlins on Monday, picking up where he left off last year, pitching three scoreless innings with five strikeouts and surrendering without a hit and no walk.
“Really good,” Carlos Mendoza's manager said of Peterson. “three [innings]his pitch was all really, really good, especially the slider. In my opinion, it's the pitch he had trouble with last year. Today he got some swings and mistakes. It was really good for the first time I played first ball. Curve ball, everything. ”
Peterson entered the three innings, defeating two of the first three batters he faced in the perfect frame, navigating around the fourth leadoff single, and one frame in the fifth.
He threw a total of 37 pitches, 25 of which were strikes, forcing five swings and mistakes, and came to the top at 94 mph on an impressive show.
He threw the slider nine times and four times for a strike.
And four of his five forced swings and mistakes came from that slider.
Last year, for Peterson, it was an unusual weakness when the opposing batsman averaged .287 and .777 OPS against the pitch, when it was much higher than any of his other pitches.
Perhaps it's a sign that there is another level of his game.
“I felt like I was able to run some good sliders, I felt that the fastball was good to come out,” Peterson said. “Later there were some curveballs. I was able to see some good things from everything.”
He followed Kodai Senga, who pitched two scoreless innings in his own spring debut.
Both are counted on the Mets rotation filled with question marks.
Peterson's breakout 2024 solidified him as a flagship in this year's rotation after bouncing back between minors and majors for the first four years of his career when he had a 2.90 ERA in 21 starts in the regular season.
Simply put, the Mets need to be able to count on Peterson.
Monday had a strong start.
“It's going to be the same guy,” Mendoza said of what he wanted to see from Peterson. “Last year, when he was in trouble, he felt like he made the pitch when he needed to. … “I'm one of the guys here. Mine plays against every lineup.” That's all, and I'm sure. ”
