Freddy Peralta’s early run with the Tampa Bay Rays has looked rough on paper, but the setting has made the story a little less straightforward.
Through three starts since coming over from the New York Mets at this year’s trade deadline, Peralta owns a 7.53 ERA. That number is being dragged down hard by what happened in his first two outings, when he posted a 9.31 ERA and gave up 15 hits and 10 earned runs in 9 2/3 innings.
There is, at least, some context for that stumble. As USA Today’s Bob Nightengale pointed out, Peralta was sent into two of the most pitcher-unfriendly environments around. “Freddy Peralta has hardly made a good first impression with his struggles in his first two starts with the Tampa Bay Rays (9.31 ERA, 15 hits and 10 earned runs in 9 2/3 innings), but his two starts have been in the high-altitude Colorado and the launching pad in Sacramento,” Nightengale writes.
That matters. His Rays debut came in Colorado, where he lasted 3.2 innings and was charged with seven runs.
The next time out, he settled down a bit in Sacramento, but still allowed three runs over 6.0 innings. Those back-to-back trips were not exactly a soft landing for a pitcher trying to reset with a new club.
Peralta’s most recent start was a little cleaner. He gave up two runs in 4.2 innings in Tampa Bay, which wasn’t dominant, but it also wasn’t a disaster.
So while the early numbers are ugly, they’re not telling the whole story by themselves. One bad start is doing a lot of the damage, and the ballparks he drew certainly didn’t help. If Peralta keeps getting more comfortable and keeps working in better pitching environments, there’s still room for that Rays ERA to move in the right direction.
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