'He's beyond ready': After years of serving as an understudy, it's Freddy Peralta's turn to shine as Brewers ace

PHOENIX – There’s no one in the Milwaukee Brewers organization who knows Freddy Peralta better than Chris Hook.

Hook has worked with the right-hander since becoming the major-league pitching coach in 2019. And before that as Milwaukee’s co-pitching coordinator. And even before that as pitching coach at Class AA Biloxi, back when Peralta was an up-and-coming prospect.

Drawing upon all that experience, Hook has no doubt the 27-year-old is ready to take the next step in his career.

“I think he’s beyond ready,” Hook said. “I really do.”

No longer a phenom or overshadowed by bigger names such as Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, Peralta is, finally, the ace of a remade Brewers staff.

"Of course," Peralta said, matter-of-factly, when asked if he was prepared to assume the role. "But for me, I just think about my job. And my job is to do the best that I can on the mound the day that I get the ball. Just give the opportunity to the guys to win the game. Just do my best, and that’s it. That’s what I’m going to try to do as always.

"I’m not thinking about, ‘I’m the first, the fifth.’ I just want to help the team to win. It's just the same Freddy and the same game."

Tracing Peralta’s path to and through the Brewers organization is a fascinating exercise.

Freddy Peralta rose quickly through Brewers' system after trade

He was signed as an amateur free agent by the Seattle Mariners in April 2013 and pitched a total of 36 games through the 2015 season before being traded to Milwaukee along with two other similarly experienced minor-league pitchers in exchange for first baseman Adam Lind.

Essentially a handful of lottery tickets acquired by then-general manager David Stearns in one of his first notable moves running the Brewers’ baseball operations.

Daniel Missaki and Carlos Herrera never panned out.

Peralta? He became more than anyone could have rightly expected.

After an expeditious rise up the minor-league ladder, he made his major-league debut on Mother’s Day 2018 at Coors Field at the tender age of 21. Making a spot start in place of an ill Chase Anderson, Peralta announced his presence with authority – a 13-strikeout gem over 5⅔ innings culminating in a victory over the Colorado Rockies with his parents in the crowd watching their son pitch professionally for the first time.

Peralta alternated between the rotation and the bullpen from then through the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The five-year, $15.5 million extension the Brewers inked him to early that spring, which included affordable team options for 2025 and 2026, looked like a master stroke after Peralta earned his first all-star nod in 2021. He finished 10-5 that season with 195 strikeouts in 144⅓ innings over 28 appearances (27 starts) and a WHIP of 0.97.

The 2022 season saw Peralta miss more than three months after two stints on the injured list caused by shoulder issues, and Milwaukee ultimately missed the playoffs after a late-season swoon precipitated by the trade of all-star closer Josh Hader.

Peralta rebounded in a big way last season, however, and if he wasn't the team's most consistent starter he wasn't too far behind Burnes.

No longer just the "Fastball Freddy" he'd been early in his tenure, Peralta had become a true four-pitch starter and led the Brewers with a career-best 12 victories and 210 strikeouts in 165⅔ innings and 30 starts. He also logged a career-high 16 quality starts, had six 10-plus strikeout games and was named the National League's pitcher of the month for August when he went 5-0 with a 2.12 ERA in five starts during the playoff push.

"Last year, there’s not only one thing," Peralta said. "I felt great and grateful for my recovery the whole year. I was ready to pitch every five days. I was feeling good all the time. Just proud, because it’s hard when you’re coming from a year like 2022 for me. I got hurt and was only able to pitch half the year.

"Then after that, being able to feel good the whole year and have success was very good."

Peralta seeks a starting pitcher's 'Holy Trinity'

Hook pointed to the work Peralta has done in getting to this point. Although still baby-faced as ever, Peralta no longer is all arms and legs like he was in 2018; the 6-foot Peralta has filled out to a solid 202 pounds and is coming off a season in which he set a new personal standard with an average fastball velocity of 94.4 mph.

"Physically, just ready to do it," Hook said. "Obviously, we've had some blips on the screen – '21 was a good year for him to get as far as he did. And then in '22, having a little bit of a setback with the shoulder was kind of tough. But I thought last year, just physically ready to do it.

"He's always working super hard. It's maybe just fine-tuning and working smarter now, and he did some of those things last year, too."

Peralta's spring was spent – as it is for all pitchers – stretching out and working out the kinks with an eye on setting even more personal highs once the games start counting.

For starters, there are three established benchmarks: 30-plus starts, 200 innings and 200 strikeouts. If Peralta can accomplish the first two, it's reasonable he'd have a chance to blow past his high-water mark for punchouts with the potential to lead the NL.

"That’s a goal for me. I know I can do it," Peralta said when asked about the starter's 'Holy Trinity.' "I just have to take it day by day. You have to try to feel good every day. I have to do the little things outside of the field to make myself feel good. It’s a big challenge that we all have in baseball, and we just have to follow that to get to that point."

Hook noted much of Peralta's heavy lifting early in camp was done on the back fields in Maryvale with a focus on getting on time with his delivery. A number of other candidates vying to follow Peralta in the rotation followed the same program in a camp without Burnes (traded to Baltimore) and Woodruff (out for 2024 after shoulder surgery) for the first time in many years.

Peralta earns opening day start and Cy Young hype

The payoff out of the chute will be Peralta's first opening day start against the New York Mets at Citi Field on March 28. Burnes had made the Brewers' previous two, preceded by Woodruff's two straight in 2020 and 2021.

"It is a big honor," Peralta said. "I know it’s going to feel great. Last year I had the first game in Milwaukee and it was a great feeling, I remember. You just enjoy the moment before the game starts, and other than that it’s going to be the same.

"If you’re not ready they’re going to hit you, and if I feel good I just have to execute my pitches and that’s it."

Now entering his seventh year in the majors and with 146 appearances and nearly 600 innings under his belt, Peralta is entering that sweet spot of his career both physically and mentally.

Not surprisingly, he's being mentioned as an NL Cy Young Award candidate – talk that Hook believes is warranted.

"He should be in that conversation," Hook said. "You've obviously got to put up the numbers. But the personality that he is – it's the Magic Johnson to me. You see the smile. The persona that goes along with it, I think the personality helps sometimes. I think he's a really good example of what baseball should be, and another reason he should be put in the group of, 'Hey, this guy is a guy.'

"Baseball should wrap its arms around him."

Which is something the Brewers did long ago.

"He doesn't even know how good he is," manager Pat Murphy said. "He has no idea, and sometimes he probably tries to do too much. He can just be Freddy. No more than that. And a good version of Freddy – not even a great version of Freddy – is' we're going to win the game that night.'

"But a good version of Freddy is what we need consistently, and I'm excited about it. He's earned it every step of the way. This kid's been through it. I love this kid, man. He's a beautiful human being, and that goes beyond baseball."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Freddy Peralta prepares to assume role of Brewers ace