Brewers 2016: Wily Peralta

Continuing in our 2016 Outlook Articles today we look at RHP Wily Peralta who was once a shining figure in Milwaukee. In 2014, he was the team’s most valuable pitcher posting a 17-11 record with a 3.53 ERA. 2015 wasn’t so great for Peralta, partly due to a strained oblique muscle. Peralta posted a 4.72 ERA in 20 starts going 5-10, his strikeout rate fell to 5 per 9 innings, but given the current potential rotation, Peralta seems to be one of the best pitchers in Milwaukee’s rotation in the upcoming season. But, just what can we expect from Peralta going forward?

Let’s give his 2015 recap a little more depth first.

2015 Recap

Wily Peralta, as stated before, went 5-10 with a 4.72 ERA, K/9 of 4.97 and a BB/9 of 3.06 in a season that was hampered down by a strained oblique muscle.  Coming off his injury, he had all the obvious signs that he had been injured.  There was a drop in his velocity and he couldn’t find the strike zone. He never really regained his old form after his injury and that was quite evident in the way he played afterward.

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2016 Production 

Wily Peralta is projected to go 9-12 over 173 IP with a 4.52 ERA while throwing 122 strikeouts in 29 games. Steamers also project his K/9 rate to be 6.36( which is right around his current career mark of 6.34) and to have a BB/9 of 2.95 (career 3.15). Peralta is eligible for arbitration for the first time this season and MLB Trade Rumors projects he’ll get a $2.8 million dollar contract. Peralta has always been a groundball pitcher, as noted by Brooks Baseball, throwing a well-above average slider, which have contributed to a  52.3% groundball rate in his MLB career. It’s very likely that last year was just a down year plagued by injury and that over the offseason Peralta used the time to heal and get healthy giving him the chance to get back to his 2014 form and solidify the notation that he deserves to be in the number one spot for the rotation.