Tom Brennan - SPOTLIGHT ON: LEFTY DAVID PETERSON

SPOTLIGHT, IF YOU, PLEASE, ON DAVID PETERSON!

Drafted by the Mets as the 20th pick in the first round of the 2017 draft, it hasn't been all peaches and cream for David Peterson ("DP").  Just 8-12, 3.42 in his career so far.

The 6'6", 240 southpaw was advertised to Mets fans as a stud who once fanned 20 in a college game.  Yes, that's right, he struck out 20 in a 2-0 win over mighty Arizona State in late April 2017, great timing for the draft to follow several weeks later.

DP is a pitcher with solid, but not ultra high, velocity, good slider, good change up, good command.  All of which sounds (searching for the right word here - oh yeah) GOOD.

Peterson had a mere 3.2 inning sip of pro baseball coffee for the Brooklyn Cyclones after he signed in 2017.  So, to paraphrase a Serv Pro commercial, for Peterson, "it was like 2017 never happened."

I was hoping for at least 5 innings in 2017, personally, but I had to put my greediness aside and settle just a wee bit there.

Anyway, for all intents and purposes, he started his pro pitching career for Columbia's Fireflies in 2018.

He did quite well there, except for a 1-4 W/L record in 9 starts, despite a 1.82 ERA.

Which, once again proves, as Jake deGrom found out in 2018, that a pitcher can't win much if the hitters don't hit worth spit.

Promoted in mid-2018 to St Lucie, DP found High A ball a whole lot more difficult, but improved as his stint went on, ending up going 6-6 with an ERA and WHIP of and 4.33 and 1.35, respectively, for the Lucites.

Somewhat disappointing stats...you want your 1st round pitcher to obliterate high A ball, and it was closer to the other way around at times.

But frankly, the recently traded 2016 first round pick Justin Dunn had similar problems his first few seasons. Growing pains can be...well, growing pains.

Promoted to start 2019 in AA, the struggles continued somewhat in early starts, especially on April 29, when he allowed 7 earned runs in 1.2 innings. 

Whether it was just struggles against higher competition, or struggling to pitch in near-Siberian upstate NY cold weather, yes, David started slowly.

Quite encouraging, tho', were stats from his last 3 shindigs: 

16 IP, 19 Ks, 3 earned runs.  You know, Jake numbers.

In fact, take out the April 29 stinker, and his other 30 innings in 2019 resulted in just 9 earned runs.  Clear proof that one abysmal start can taint a pitcher's overall stat picture for quite a while...and tell a false tale.

My take is that David Peterson will be ready to be a back-end-of-rotation starter for the Mets in 2020, capable of giving the Mets 5 to 7 good innings most starts.  

Compared to the Jason Vargas and Wilmer Font types currently struggling to man the #5 spot in the rotation (both of whom are giving the Mets starting outings of the same length as middle relievers), the Mets would be thrilled to have DP as an innings eater of average 5th starter ability (or better) for 2020.

If he can achieve that, it appears that Peterson and fast-rising teammate and fellow first rounder Anthony (More Than OKay) Kay could both be solid pieces in the Mets 2020 rotation.

Keep up the recent fine work, David...the team in Queens needs pitchers who can get it done.  

Trust me on that.

(To close, Mack had a Macks Mets post from years back, prior to the DP draft selection, from "Scouting Baseball" that had an interesting tidbit of info about David Peterson: 

A freak basketball accident, leaving Peterson with a broken right fibula, took the majority of the southpaw's senior season in high school. If not for the broken leg, Peterson may have never stepped foot on campus and been pitching as a professional. 

If that was the scenario, Peterson may have never met Jason Dietrich. The brand new pitching coach at Oregon has been known for his ability to fix control problems, which is something Peterson needed assistance with. The immediate connection showed over the summer, and should only improve in Peterson's draft eligible year.