5-12-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
With the Pirates on the road again, heading to Queens to face the NL East-leading Mets, they’ll see starting pitcher David Peterson, who is off to a strong start to his 2025 campaign.
After breaking out last year with a 2.90 ERA over 121 innings of work – including a July 6 no-decision versus the Pirates which I previewed here, Peterson enters play today with a 3.52 ERA through 38.1 frames and solidified himself in the rotation after bouncing between starting and long relief his first few years in New York.
Peterson is the Mets version of Carmen Mlodzinski in that he is DOMINANT first time through the order and then falls off hard after that.
He’s coming off his worst outing of the season, allowing 4 runs off 5 hits through 6 innings of work against Arizona as he walked 4 and struck out 6.
Looking at his profile, Peterson is a ground-ball merchant with elite extension that he utilizes to get late swing decisions from opposing hitters.
He primarily leans on his fastball as he offers a low 90s sinker/4-seam 53% of the time while adding his mid 80s slider/changeup and high-70s curve down in the zone to mix speed.
He keeps his non-4-seam pitches low in the zone but the heat is what Bucs bats should target regardless of location.
On the season, righties are hitting .310 and slugging .552 against Peterson’s 4-seam while hitting .389 with a .667 slugging percentage against his sinker.
By comparison, his secondary offerings have been much more successfully deployed against opposing hitters.
The Bucs will need to stay high in the zone and try to resist the breaking/offspeed stuff down. He can get wild at times but mostly is looking to pitch to contact and rely on his defense behind him.
Attack heat. Lay off junk. Put the ball in play and make something happen.
Steel City Pirates 
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