The 6’6” left hander was first drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 28th round of the 2014 June Amateur Draft however opted not to sign. It turned out to be the right move as he eventually was drafted by the New York Mets as the 20th overall pick in the first round of the 2017 June Amateur Draft.

Soon after, Peterson would make his professional debut within the Mets organization with the Brooklyn Cyclones. While he only pitched 3.2 innings with the Cyclones, he did just come off pitching in 15 games and 100.1 innings while posting a 2.45 ERA and going 11-4 for Oregon that same year.

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In 2018, Peterson pitched 128 innings between St. Lucie and Columbia. The lefty went 7-10 and put up a 3.16 ERA in his first full season at the professional levels. While Peterson took a bit of a step back once he was promoted to Binghamton, he was consistent enough to be considered for the rotation during the 2020 campaign.

Now while it’s probable that Peterson would not have started the year off with the big club, an injury to Noah Syndergaard and the opt-out of Marcus Stroman guaranteed him a regular spot in the rotation.

The Denver, Colorado native made his big league debut on July 28th, 2020 against the Boston Red Sox, the team Peterson was originally drafted by. The lefty tossed 5.2 innings in which he gave up two earned runs on seven hit picking up his first Major League win.

After the game, manager Luis Rojas told reporters “That’s his first outing, he handled himself like it was one of many outings he’s had at the Major League level.” He also added “His poise, once again, is something that stands out… His matureness, how he’s able to handle the scenario, that’s a great thing.”

The left hander has been hitting 91-94 MPH with his fastball/sinker this season and while he doesn’t strike out many in the batters box, he does induce many ground balls. Now it seems as if scouts aren’t too high on his secondary pitches like his change-up, slider, or curve-ball, except for those at MLB and Baseball America.

With a ton of uncertainty surrounding Steven Matz, Peterson would be a strong candidate for the back end of the rotation in the upcoming 2021 season, even if new owner Steve Cohen helps invest in a big free agent pitcher like Trevor Bauer.

Image from Yahoo!