David Peralta Announces Retirement

Longtime Diamondbacks outfielder David Peralta is formally retiring from baseball. He provided a statement to MLBTR announcing the news:

“I want to formally announce my retirement from baseball. I want to thank God for all of the blessings he has given me, for giving me the best parents and sisters who always supported me. For my wonderful wife and beautiful kids who were always with me and supported me unconditionally. Thank you to the Arizona Diamondbacks organization for making my dreams come true, believing in me and giving me the opportunity to play the best baseball in the world — MLB. I also want to thank all of the other organizations that were a part of my career; Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. Thank you to Dave McKay for making me a Gold Glover, and thank you to Jose Amado for making me a Silver Slugger. And of course, thank you to all of the fans were always so special with me.

It was a lot of years of hard work, dedication and discipline, and I can now say with my head up that ’I did it.’ The Freight Train has reached his final destination — HOME. Thank you baseball!”

Peralta took a winding road to what would prove to be a very productive career. He signed with the Cardinals as a left-handed pitcher out of his native Venezuela in 2004. Control issues and a pair of shoulder surgeries prevented him from getting out of rookie ball. By the time St. Louis released him, he was 21 years old and hadn’t made it to Low-A.

Peralta went into the independent ranks and reinvented himself as a hitter. It was a career-changing transition. He raked against indie ball pitching for two seasons, intriguing the Diamondbacks enough that they purchased his contract midway through the 2013 campaign. He remained on a tear in High-A and made the jump to Double-A the following season. By the middle of June, the Snakes had pushed him all the way to the big leagues. He hit .286/.320/.450 over 88 games and went into the next year as an everyday player.

Peralta’s first full MLB season was arguably the best of a strong career. He slashed .312/.371/.522 while connecting on 26 doubles, 10 triples, and 17 home runs. Peralta worked alongside AJ Pollock and Ender Inciarte in what was quietly one of the best outfields in the league. The D-Backs traded Inciarte the following offseason in the ill-fated Shelby Miller deal, while Peralta battled injuries and was limited to 48 games in 2016.

Peralta rebounded to hit .293 in consecutive seasons after that, helping the D-Backs to a playoff berth in the first of those years. He connected on 30 home runs in 2018, setting career marks in both homers and RBI (87). Peralta was one of four National League outfielders with 30+ homers and ranked sixth among the group with an .868 OPS. He was named a Silver Slugger alongside Christian Yelich and Nick Markakis.

The 2019 season saw Peralta earn the award on the other side of the ball. He led NL left fielders with +9 Defensive Runs Saved en route to a Gold Glove. He turned in a second straight season with an OPS above .800 as well, batting .275/.343/.461 with 29 doubles before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. His production began to trend down after that, although he hit .300 during the shortened 2020 season for the second time of his career.

Arizona signed Peralta to a three-year, $22MM extension in advance of what would have been his walk year in 2020. That kept him in the desert for an extra season and a half, but the team’s underperformance led to him being on the trade block by the ’22 deadline. The Snakes traded him to the Rays in advance of his hitting free agency for the first time.

Peralta finished his career back in the NL West. He signed a one-year contract with the Dodgers in 2023 and spent the final four months of the ’24 season on the Padres roster after signing a minor league deal. Although he was more of a complementary player by that point, he finished his career with a respectable .267/.335/.415 showing over 91 games for San Diego. Getting back to the majors that year also got him to the 10-year service milestone.

His teams made the postseason each year from 2022-24. Peralta went 4-for-13 with a homer off Jack Flaherty in a five-game NLDS loss to the Dodgers in what would be his final major league action. He didn’t sign for the 2025 season, although he made a brief comeback in the Venezuelan Winter League this year.

The left-handed hitter finishes his career with a .278/.335/.448 batting line. He hit 125 home runs and topped 500 runs scored and RBI apiece. Peralta tallied 1166 hits and twice led the National League in triples. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference each credited him with roughly 17 wins above replacement, while B-Ref calculates his career earnings north of $40MM.

Peralta is one of the most successful indie ball signees ever, and he’s among the better players in Arizona’s 28-year team history. He trails only Luis Gonzalez, Paul Goldschmidt and Ketel Marte in games and hits in a D-Backs uniform, while he ranks among the top 10 in homers, RBI, and WAR among position players. Congratulations to Peralta on a fine career and all the best in his post-playing days.

Image courtesy of Imagn Images.