Thanks to his defense, Peterson is quietly among most valuable Brewers
Christian Yelich hitting for the cycle. Rowdy Tellez driving in a franchise-record eight runs in a game. Willy Adames earning National League player of the week honors. Josh Hader's unblemished start. Eric Lauer and Corbin Burnes striking out double-digit batters in a start, then doing it again. And again.
It isn't difficult to point out who most of the most valuable members of the Milwaukee Brewers have been early in the season.
Take a gander at the Brewers' Baseball-Reference.com page and you will find most of those usual suspects listed among the 12 most valuable members of the team this year by wins above replacement (WAR).
You will also find Jace Peterson. Wait, what?
The player who had a sub-.500 OPS a day into May?
Yes, him.
According to Baseball Reference's calculation of the metric, Peterson has been worth 0.9 wins against replacement this season. The only Brewers above him are Burnes and Adames.
Of course, WAR is not an exact measurement and, particularly early in the season and in defensive value calculations, can be a bit finicky. Perhaps it's best to the metric more as a guideline than the end-all, be-all of player evaluation.
It isn't just Baseball Reference that's high on Peterson's value among commonly-trusted, public WAR calculations. FanGraphs is in lockstep with Peterson's defensive value and assesses his value at 0.7 WAR, fourth-most among Brewers hitters.
For a hitter who, despite a recent hot stretch, is still hitting below the league average with a .222/.319/.365 slash line, that's eye-catching. That's just how good Peterson's defense has been – and mostly at a premium position at third base – Brewers manager Craig Counsell asserted.
According to Statcast's outs above average metric, Peterson is tied for the lead among all major-league third baseman with four OAA. Only St. Louis' Nolan Arenado and San Diego's Manny Machado have been as good at that position, and both carry an extremely high defensive pedigree.
Counsell also touched on the value Peterson brings to the club with his versatility. During the Brewers three-game series in Cincinnati last week, the utility man started at third base, first base and left field.
“I think Jace has played really, really well at third base,” Counsell said. “And now that (Luis) Urías is back, he's not gonna play much third base, frankly. He's gonna play the other positions probably more. Just point to last series, he started one game at (three positions) and that's really valuable. There's just not many players in the league that can do that and do that well and then bring everything else to the table.”
Peterson spends 90 minutes a day, four days a week in the offseason working on defense. He rotates among positions, hitting up a new spot – and putting on a different glove – each day.
Starting in 2016 in Atlanta, his third season in the majors, Peterson took on a utility role and has since embraced it.
“When I started getting transitioned to that utility role is when I started to really value defense consistently,” Peterson said. “As a job, you obviously gotta be productive at the plate, but when it's not going well offensively, the more you can lock in defensively, I feel like it's a way to consistently help the team.”
Peterson has had some great glove men to learn from along the way. With the Braves, it was Freddie Freeman at first base and Andrelton Simmons at shortstop. In Baltimore, it was Manny Machado at the hot corner. Now with the Brewers, Peterson points two lockers down in the visiting clubhouse in Miami at second baseman Kolten Wong.
“I've had a lot of good defenders who take a lot of pride in it teach me,” Peterson said.
Against the Marlins on Friday, Peterson found himself in the lineup once again, this time at first. If he keeps providing this type of two-way value for Milwaukee, it won't be too difficult for Counsell to find a spot for him somewhere – or anywhere.