9-25-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
Facing off against Freddy Peralta today, older brother of one-time Pirates prospect, Luis Peralta, and perennial tormenter of Bucs bats.
Peralta has appeared in 21 games against the Pirates in his career and holds a 2-1 record with a 3.56 ERA over 78.1 innings, striking out 91 and walking 29 in those outings.
His most recent matchup with the Bucs on April 25th was his worst start in that stretch as he allowed 5 runs off 5 hits, 5 walks and striking out 5 over 4.2 innings of work.
Despite that, Peralta is never easy as he enters play today with some solid numbers overall, posting a 3.69 ERA over 168.1 innings of work and ranks 11th in MLB with his 193 strikeouts.
Though, some cracks are starting to show with control as he has issued a career-high 66 walks – 4th most in MLB among qualified starters – with a career-worst 2.92 K/BB rate.
Looking at his arsenal, Peralta features a mix of 4 pitches: mid-90s 4-seamer working up in the zone, a low-80s slider mostly deployed against righties breaking down and away, a high-80s changeup working down and away when facing lefties and a lesser-used curve in the high-70s with an inconsistent location/release point.
His fastball has the highest Run Value among his offerings but, given the frequency and clear difference in location from his other pitches, has been hit hard at times (17 of 26 home runs have come against the heater) and has the lowest whiff rate among his offerings at 24.9%, with both the highest average exit velocity (89.3 MPH) and highest line drive rate (24.3%).
His changeup generates a high ground-ball rate with 60.2% of batted balls registering with a negative launch angle so hitters will want to keep their eyes hyper focused on the high heat and avoid chasing stuff outside of the zone.
Peralta – and the Brewers in general – will always be a difficult matchup but if there’s any chance at winning the series, the Bucs will need to punch through against Freddy early in the game today.
Let’s Go Bucs!
Steel City Pirates 