Metstradamus - Maybe Fifteen Minutes For This One?

 

By metstradamus | June 8, 2021 11:31 pm

I wonder if Rick Peterson can fix David Peterson in ten minutes.

I only mean that half jokingly, as it has become time for us to have a discussion about the second year lefty. As you know, he lasted a third of an inning against Arizona while giving up five runs after being staked to a 4-0 lead. It was during that gaem where John Franco, calling the game on YouTube (no, you didn’t imagine that), said that Peterson’s release point was all over the place. Tonight, after he was staked to a 2-0 lead, it was apparent that Peterson was still struggling with that release point. Very hittable, spinking a pitch to the ground at one point, and leaving after 2 and 2/3’s, giving up four runs on eight hits and a walk.

It’s tempting to put Peterson in the same category as Steven Matz and say “it’s in his head”. But I don’t think it’s that at all. Peterson doesn’t have near the stuff of Matz so, to me, it isn’t a case of “I have all this stuff, what do I do with it? Am I throwing too hard?” I’m really thinking that the best thing for Peterson might be two or three starts in the minors to fix things mechanically (hence the Rick Peterson quip at the top of this post.) The problem is that if Peterson can’t get past this, then he can’t take the next step, whichever that may be. He can’t work on control, he can’t refine his pitches or learn new pitches, this has to be fixed first. And his best path for this is a short stint in the minors to work on this

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