Freddy Peralta completes impressive April with win on Tuesday night

With a five-pitch sixth inning during Tuesday night’s win against the Chicago White Sox, the Milwaukee Brewers' ace, Freddy Peralta, capped off another impressive start. After allowing two solo home runs to Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. in the bottom of the first, Peralta allowed just two more hits throughout the rest of his outing. He struck out five and earned his third win of the season as the offense provided the necessary run support.

2025 marks the second season with Peralta sitting atop the starting rotation in Milwaukee. In 32 starts a season ago, he posted a 3.68 ERA, while collecting 11 wins and 200 strikeouts. This year, while anchoring an injury-riddled Brewers' rotation, Peralta has posted a 2.52 ERA across his first seven starts. He has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a single start and has covered five innings or more in each outing. As the calendar will turn to May before Peralta toes the rubber once again, let's take a look at how his impressive April compares to seasons past.

Freddy Peralta posts second lowest April-ERA of his career

Outside of shaky starts to the 2019 and 2022 seasons, Peralta has generally been effective in his first few starts of the season. His best April came in 2021, when he posted a 2.25 ERA across five starts while pitching in a rotation headlined by Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes. Now the ace, Peralta's numbers this year were just slightly behind his 2021 stats, as he posted a 2.36 ERA in his six April starts. His 2021 first half earned him his lone All-Star Game appearance, making a return to the coveted midseason game a real possibility for Peralta in 2025.

That being said, Peralta is doing things quite differently than he did in 2021. His emphasis on command and decision to include a tighter "slurve" in his repertoire during the offseason is paying off. His walks per nine innings rate (BB/9) is down from 3.52 in 2024 to 2.97 this year. However, Peralta has sacrificed some of his strikeouts with his increased willingness to pitch to contact in an effort to limit the walks. His strikeout per nine innings rate (K/9) is down from 10.36 in 2024 to 9.72 so far this season. Back in 2021, when Peralta posted his best month of April, his K/9 was 12.16 and his BB/9 was 3.49, according to FanGraphs.

The Freddy Peralta of 2025 appears to be a more refined pitcher as opposed to the wild thrower that he was at the beginning of his career. He's locating his secondary pitches well despite still throwing his renowned fastball 60% of the time.

As the season continues, the Brewers can only hope for the same quality and reliability that Peralta showed through the first full month of the season. With injuries, inconsistent young pitchers, and uncertainty throughout the rest of the rotation, Peralta's consistency will continue to be necessary as the long season plays out.