DELIVERY MAN
Peralta will do whatever is asked of him with his contract secure
When Freddy Peralta agreed to a five-year, $15.5 million contract extension with the Milwaukee Brewers early in spring training, he heard critics say he undersold himself with just over a year of service time in the major leagues.
Now, with the game’s finances in tatters thanks to the coronavirus pandemic that reduced Major League Baseball to scheduling a 60-game season, the 24-year-old right-hander is quite pleased to have money in the bank and more coming.
“Even if the virus didn’t happen, for me, I made the right decision,” Peralta said Friday in a Zoom session with reporters. “It’s what I wanted for me and my family, like I said that day.
“With the situation we are living right now, it’s not good. You look now and we are trying to play
with all this crazy stuff that is happening. That makes me feel like I did the right thing. I was like 99.9% sure. Right now, it's 100% that I made the right decision.”
Peralta's contract has team options for 2025 and 2026 that could stretch the deal to a total of $30 million, so his payday could be even bigger. As for this season, he isn't sure if he'll be in the starting rotation or pitch out of the bullpen after the Brewers open play next Friday with a game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
“What I've been doing is getting ready like a starting pitcher, but I don't know yet how it's going to be during the season,” said Peralta, who started Thursday night in an intrasquad game at Miller Park and pitched 32⁄3 innings.
In his first year-plus in the big leagues, Peralta has been versatile, making 22 starts and pitching in relief 33 times. He has proven more effective in the latter role, going 5-1 with a 3.83 earned run average coming out of the pen, compared to 8-6, 5.27 when starting games.
The Brewers have blurred the lines in recent years between starting and relieving, especially during September playoff runs with expanded rosters. They are expected to do so again at the outset of the 2020 season, when teams can carry 30 players, with manager Craig Counsell expected to have 16-17 pitchers at his disposal.
Peralta is the perfect Swiss army knife to have in such situations, with the ability to pitch one inning or five, depending on the need in any given game.
“I know what I can do,” Peralta said. “I know that if they need me starting or maybe one day then need two or three innings from me, I know I can do that. If I have to close one game, I know I can do that, too, because I did it last year and in the past two. In the minors, I did that sometimes.
“I think it's not only me. Probably there will be someone else like me, that we have to be able to start games. We have to be able to be in the pen if we need it or close one day if we need it. So, it's different. But this season is going to be short, so that's why you have to be ready for everything and try to win games early.”
Manager Craig Counsell has not announced his rotation plans but entering summer camp, four pitchers expected to start were Brandon Woodruff, Brett Anderson, Josh Lindblom and Adrian Houser. Anderson's status is in jeopardy because of a blister on his index finger that limited his last intrasquad outing Wednesday to two innings.
With lefty Eric Lauer coming off a shoulder issue in the spring and getting a late start this summer after being exposed to coronavirus, his status for the opening of the season also is iffy. That leaves Corbin Burnes and Peralta, who both began the 2019 season in the rotation but quickly pitched their way out of it.
“Burnes is really good, man,” Peralta said. “Really good stuff. I've been playing with him since we were in the minors, low A, I think. I know how he pitches. I know that he's really good, and I have no problem with that (if Burnes is chosen to start).
“What I can control is what I can do on the field. The decision they make will be fine because that is going to be the best to help the team win games.”
Peralta was one of a group of players who stayed behind in Phoenix, after spring training was shut down, to continue working out at American Family Fields of Phoenix.
One thing Peralta was excited about in the spring was incorporating a slider into what had been a two-pitch repertoire – fastball and curveball. On days when his curveball wasn't sharp, he had to rely too heavily on his fastball, which hitters quickly figured out.
“My slider is working good,” he said. “I've been working really hard to make it look how I want it to look, how to make the pitch look like a fastball coming out of my hand. That's going to help me a lot.
“I've been working the whole time since spring training started. I never stopped. Right now, it's a little hard because when you're playing against your teammates, it's a little different.”
Of the versatility that Peralta and others provide a pitching staff, Counsell said, "We are trying to use to our advantage the length (in innings) of a lot of our pitchers. I don't know necessarily when they will always pitch but I think they're going to pitch in bigger stints. Maybe more than five guys will pitch in bigger stints.
"That's a strength of our staff and something we have to use to our advantage, and Freddy is one of those guys. I think you'll see, at times, Freddy at the start of games and you could see him at the end of a game. But it will be in longer stints, for sure."
Perhaps the biggest adjustment for Peralta will come off the field, with social distancing being practiced and basically no touching, including high fives and hugs. The bubbly Peralta, who nearly always has a smile on his face off the mound, is a social creature so practicing all of the COVID-19 protocols will take some work.
“I like to be talking with my teammates and doing something fun to keep the energy high,” Peralta said. “It's hard to do a fake high-five. It's crazy. It's hard for me, and I know for some other guys, too.
“But right now we are in a situation where everybody knows what we can do for staying safe. We are not having a problem with that because everybody knows that we have to take care (of each other), take care of our families, too.
“That way, we can be together for when the season starts until the season is over.”