The Mets have optioned left-hander David Peterson, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. His active roster spot will go to fellow lefty Josh Walker, who was not previously on the 40-man roster, though the club already had a vacancy in that regard and won’t need to make a corresponding move.
This is the first time that Walker, 28, has been on a major league roster and he will be making his debut as soon as he’s put into a game. A 37th round selection of the Mets in the 2017 draft, he got some work in the lower levels of the minors in the 2017-2019 stretch before the minor league were canceled by the pandemic in 2020.
In 2021, he shot through three levels, going from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A. He tossed a combined 115 2/3 innings with a 3.73 ERA, striking out 21.5% of opponents against a 6.4% walk rate. Last year, he was limited by injury to just 13 1/3 innings over 13 appearances and has been working exclusively in relief here in 2023. He has tossed 13 1/3 innings over nine Triple-A outings with a miniscule 0.68 ERA, 34% strikeout rate, 11.3% walk rate and 32.1% ground ball rate. He’ll give the Mets a second left-handed relief option alongside Brooks Raley.
As for Peterson, he was called on to join the rotation as the Mets were dealing with injuries to Carlos Carrasco, José Quintana, Justin Verlander and the sticky stuff suspension of Max Scherzer. Unfortunately, he’s been lit up so far this year, currently sporting an 8.08 ERA through eight starts. There’s likely a bit of bad luck in there as Peterson actually has strong strikeout and walk rates of 24.7% and 7.7%, respectively. A .404 batting average on balls in play and 58.8% strand rate have helped some extra earned runs across the plate, but so have the eight homers Peterson’s allowed so far.
With Verlander and Scherzer both now back and Carrasco expected to rejoin the club in the near future, Peterson will head down to the farm and try to get things back on track for whenever the club needs reinforcements again.
Peterson blew a big opportunity.
Peterson needed to go down. He just doesn’t have it this year.
As a Met fan I hate to say this but “it’s about time….”
He’s not a bad player. He just needs to get his head on straight. He’s still relatively young and can have a successful career ahead of himself should he figure it out down in the minors. Better down there than getting shelled up here and taking up a valuable roster spot.
When a guy is 27 going on 28 and still “needs to figure it out”, the odds of him having a successful career are not very good. Because that’s not “still relatively young” in MLB lifespans.
“Because that’s not “still relatively young” in MLB lifespans.”
For starting pitching, it absolutely is. Tons of pitchers don’t put it together until they are in their mid-to late 20s. Pitchers who are great in their early 20s are the minority, even those that are typically have their best seasons in ages 26-30 (roughly).
@rct
What percentage of pitchers do you see who are still trying to figure it out at age 27/28 end up being good versus the number that end up becoming journeyman or out of the sport within the next couple of years afterward?
From what I have seen in MLB history, those guys still trying to figure it out at that age usually aren’t good and don’t last much longer after their age 28 season…usually being done with the sport by 30 or 31 if they even last that long.
Peterson has just become the perfect candidate for the Mets to non-tender at the end of the season or DFA at some point soon.
To name a few guys who figured it out later in their careers.
Gerrit Cole
Nathan Eovaldi
Charlie Morton
Merril Kelly
Kevin Gausman
Rich Hill (35)
Zach Greinke
Alex Cobb
Chris Flexen
A lot of guys figured it out late or found resurgence later on in their careers.or found something after going overseas.
This list doesn’t include guys who saved their careers switching to the pen.
Brad Hand, Matt Moore, Zach Britton, Andrew Miller, Jorge Lopez,
Or relievers that figured it out late like Erick Swanson, Jason Adam (or most Rays pitchers),
And again, in the history of the came, what percentage of guys did that? You’re naming all these guys out of how many that didn’t do it. The percentage is very low. For all of these guys, there our 100s and 1000s that didn’t figure it out.
And I’ll add a bit about Brad Hand and Andrew Miller. The Marlins failed them more than anything. The Marlins refused to commit to trying them as relievers. They always kept pushing to make them starters.
But back to my point, what percentage of guys that reach the same point of their careers as Peterson, and didn’t succeed afterward? There a lot more guys that ended up as failures than success stories. A whole lot more.
History of the game? Not sure. Cause no one has actually gone through and did an analysis about this topic.
You probably couldn’t even name 100 pitchers from the 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s without googling it.
How many pitchers have had previous success as a starter/pitcher have saved their careers whether it be figuring it out as a starter switching to relief or going over seas? Probably a lot more than you think. You’re looking at a smaller sample size. Not sure why you’re looking at every pitcher ever. Comparing Peterson to someone who never reaches the bigs doesn’t make much sense.
I’m not talking about guys who never reached the bigs. I’m talking about those guys that reached MLB, did not figure it out at the MLB level by 27/28, and never did afterward – whether as a starter or reliever. And you’re right, we’d have to Google or get access to the database for every single guy that played MLB, then filtered it for the guys that played at age 27 and were pitchers who were starters for x-percentage of games up to then.
With this, I guarantee the number of failures would be far more than the successes. It’s actually common sense that there are far more failures because the history of the game is filled with more failed players than ones that succeeded. Playing at the highest level of any sport is hard to do, so only a few can do it and stick, and do it as a successful player instead of roster filler. If this wasn’t the case, everyone would be able to do it.
And you can try to find a way to say that those failed players shouldn’t count, but the reality is that they existed, and Peterson is in the same category as them – a guy that hasn’t had success by age 27/28. You don’t get to pretend guys didn’t exist when you’re trying to figure out what the odds are of a guy his age that hasn’t figured it out by 27/28 can succeed later. All those guys existed, played and failed at MLB. You calculate every single one of them in the history of the game when figuring out the odds.
Oh yeah, and for the research, the database filter would include filters to eliminate the players who did figure it out by age 27 based on certain standards that indicate success at the level – for example, career ERA, etc. up to that point in their career.
So you’re including guys who reach the big leagues but sucked the entire time they were in the big leagues? Why exactly? 2020 and 2022 Peterson showed he can pitch at this level. Hence why I said “had previous success as a starter/pitcher”
In 10 games as a reliever about 20 innings he’s posted encouraging stats. Small sample size sure but definitely think Peterson can save his career by switching the pen full time.
This is on Hefner. He should be fired by seasons end. Nepotism is the only reason he was hired in Minnesota. His father had the largest poultry farm in Oklahoma and offered the Twins 20% wholesale on chicken products. There’s still a wall plaque at Target Field dedicated to Jeremy Hefner‘s dad.
Sounds like a made up crock of BS.
Take advantage of the opportunity Josh!
Pretty excited for what Josh can do actually. And he’s an Orange County, NY native so it’s cool to see a Lower Hudson Valley guy play for the Mets!
The Mets will cut bait with Peterson and he’ll go on to have a decent career with some team far away from the bright lights of NYC.
I actually like Peterson more than Megill or Carrasco. Yep, the results haven’t been there this year, but I think he has the stuff and the chops to be a solid #4 or #5 SP for somebody.
Perhaps the Giants
As an aside, the Mets need the bats to come alive. The weather is beginning to warm up, and you know what that means: It’s hittin’ season in the Big Apple.
Unless, of course, it’s not.
Congratulations to Josh Walker for a scoreless inning in his debut. Two walks weren’t pretty, but he’s got a baseball reference page now and nobody can take that away from this 37th rounder.