Freddy Peralta Is MLB’s Hottest Pitcher, and That’s Great News for the Rays

Freddy Peralta has twice been on the doorstep of the World Series, having lost in both last year’s NLCS and the 2018 edition with the Brewers. The 30-year-old dug a little deeper and pitched like he’d never pitched before in the postseason on Tuesday night to help get the Rays one step closer to the Fall Classic.

Peralta hurled six scoreless innings in Tampa Bay’s 3–1 win over the Guardians, helping the Rays even up the ALCS at a game apiece by striking out six batters and walking just two. It was the first time in eight postseason starts that he pitched six innings.

The Rays scored three unearned runs in the fourth inning after a costly error from Guardians star José Ramirez helped Tampa Bay get all the offense they’d need with Peralta on the mound.

With Shane McClanahan sidelined for the postseason due to left forearm tightness, the Rays need Peralta to be sharp this month. So far, he’s delivered exactly what’s needed, and he’s even found a bit more gusto with his fastball. Per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Peralta threw 29 pitches at 97-plus mph in Game 2, the most in a single game in his entire career. For a pitcher who threw his fastball 53% of the time during the regular season, a boost in velocity is a game changer.

Peralta’s average velocity on his four-seam fastball sat at 94.3 mph during the regular season, so he was throwing it more than 2.5 mph faster than what he displayed throughout the campaign. He leaned heavily upon his fastball on Tuesday night, throwing it for 71 of his 99 pitches (71.7% usage rate).

“The energy that I was using since the first pitch until the last one, I was a little fatigued,” Peralta admitted in a postgame interview with TBS.

And with that increase in velocity, he was giving the Guardians fits as they struggled to keep up.

He’s now had two of the best playoff outings of his career in consecutive starts for the Rays after surrendering just one run across 4 2/3 innings against the Yankees in the ALDS, helping Tampa Bay reach the championship series with a three-game sweep of their division rivals.

It’s a big difference from how he was pitching during the first half of the season after arriving in Queens following the offseason trade that sent him from the Brewers to the Mets.

Across 22 starts in New York, Peralta put up the worst numbers of his career. He owned a 4.99 ERA with 113 strikeouts, 48 walks and 17 home runs allowed in 113 2/3 innings. He saw a significant reduction in K/9 (8.9) and walked more batters per nine innings (3.8) than he had since 2019.

Rather than try to make things work, the Mets shipped Peralta to the Rays at the trade deadline, looking to recoup some value for the veteran righthander, who is due a new contract in the offseason. Tampa Bay brought him aboard for three mid-level prospects, and he’s since rediscovered the form he displayed throughout his eight-year stay in Milwaukee.

Across 10 regular-season starts with the Rays, Peralta recorded a 3.25 ERA with 43 strikeouts and 15 walks in 55 1/3 innings. He’s been on a tear over the last month-plus in particular. Over his last six regular-season starts, Peralta surrendered three runs across 34 innings, good for a 0.79 ERA with 27 strikeouts against nine walks. Add in his postseason performances, in which he’s surrendered just one run across 10 2/3 innings, and he has a 0.81 ERA dating back to Aug. 22.

If Peralta can continue to pitch at this high of a level, he’ll have been the steal of the trade deadline. The Rays got him at a relative discount from the Mets, and seemed to have corrected the inconsistencies he displayed in Queens. Working with Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder, one of the best in the business, Peralta implemented a couple of minor mechanical changes that appear to have resulted in significant improvements to his game.

First, he adjusted his arm angle on the mound to be more in line with what it was during his tenure as a Brewer. With the Mets, Peralta’s arm angle was around 33 degrees, but he increased that to 36 degrees after some advice from Snyder. Additionally, he’s increased his extension from 6.5 feet to 6.7 feet. Those small tweaks have seemingly worked wonders, helping Peralta go from one of the least effective starters in the league to one of the most dominant. Peralta won American League Pitcher of the Month honors for September, and his excellence on the mound has continued into the postseason.

The Rays had anticipated entering the playoffs with a four-man rotation of Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez, McClanahan and Peralta, but the late injury to McClanahan put those plans to the wayside. Thus far, Peralta’s return to form has helped mitigate the loss of McClanahan, and now Tampa Bay has evened up the series against the Guardians and sits three wins away from returning to the World Series for the first time since 2020.

“I’ve been thinking about it, i’m not gonna lie,” Peralta told TBS after the game. “I was speaking with the boys the other day—I’ve been so close to being in the World Series. And for some reason, I have the feeling—we have a lot of respect for the Guardians, because they’re great—but we’re looking forward to keeping on winning and making it to the World Series.”

Peralta figures to make one more start during the ALCS. And with the way he’s been slinging it lately, Tampa Bay is rightfully feeling confident about its chances to give Peralta the opportunity to make his World Series debut, too.