David Peterson might not have had this chance if the Mets were under their previous regimes.
Once a top prospect within the organization’s farm system, the now-29-year-old was unable to figure it out at the MLB level across his first four MLB seasons. With a high WHIP and lower strikeout capabilities, he held a 4.51 career ERA in 2023 before undergoing offseason surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip.
Perhaps the Mets of old would have buried him in the minors or traded him away over the winter for another prospect and some cash. But he got another chance with David Stearns, who put Peterson in the pitching lab and has ultimately maximized his skill set.
Peterson is still the same high-contact pitcher, but he has honed his mechanics to help minimize the damage that does come off the opposition’s bat, and Stearns has put a sound defense behind him.
After sitting out the first two months of the 2024 regular season while he recovered from that hip surgery, Peterson has been the Mets’ most consistent pitcher since.
He ranks 12th in the majors with a 2.97 ERA and is one of just 14 pitchers with 230 innings of work during that span.
“For me after the surgery, it was just getting back to being healthy,” Peterson said. “Getting used to the new range of motion and all that came with the surgery. It was nice to have a full, regular offseason to work on my strength and get that back. It’s been good. It’s kind of what I’ve always thought was in there.”
In 18 starts this season, which is already just three fewer than he had all of last year, he is 6-4 with a 3.06 ERA while leading the Mets in innings, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP. Shortly after he held the Baltimore Orioles to just one run on five hits over seven innings on July 10, he learned that he would replace Robbie Ray of the San Francisco Giants on the National League All-Star team ahead of the 2025 Midsummer Classic on Tuesday in Atlanta.
There, he will join Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, who will start, alongside closer Edwin Diaz and first baseman Pete Alonso.
“It’s a huge honor,” Peterson said. “It’s something that you strive for as a kid and as a baseball player. So yeah, I’m extremely excited and just very humbled.”
This is a significant win for the Mets’ development team, who took a pitcher that had been mired in mediocrity for years, polished his game, and developed a front-line-worthy starter — even if he is not the traditional high-strikeout, overpowering sort of option.
“I’m proud of him,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Especially last year what he went through with the injury and how far he’s come. He’s a huge part of this team, of that rotation. For him to get rewarded, it’s pretty special.”
