'Not good right now': Freddy Peralta struggling to top off Mets rotation
· Yahoo Sports
NEW YORK — When the Mets acquired Freddy Peralta from the Brewers ahead of the 2026 season, David Stearns viewed the right-hander as a "stabilizing force" who could lead the team's rotation.
There have been times when Peralta has been that, but now, with the rotation in flux, with an injury to Kodai Senga and David Peterson and Sean Manaea resolved to bulk relief duty, the club needs Peralta's past front-end prowess more than ever.
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Peralta, who finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting with a 2.70 ERA and 204 strikeouts, has struggled to find steady ground in New York.
The 30-year-old right-hander turned in one of his worst starts with the Mets on Tuesday night. He gave up six earned runs on six hits, two walks and two hit batters across six innings in the Mets' 7-0 loss to the Cardinals in front of 35,175 fans on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
"I just thought he didn’t have the life on the fastball today," Carlos Mendoza said. "The velo was a tick down. Looked like he was just a little bit off today for some reason. The hop at the top of the zone wasn’t there. They were able to get the barrel there at times and they got him."
The loss moved Peralta to 4-5 on the season, while the Mets slipped to 29-37.
When asked to assess Peralta's start to the 2026 season, Mendoza's meandering response proved what has been problematic for their top-of-the-rotation piece. The inconsistency in length of his outings and holding down opponents has persisted throughout the season.
"He’s been good for the most part. When you look at his numbers, there have been outings where it’s a grind for five innings but he gives us a chance to win a baseball game," Mendoza said. "There’s been a few of them where he’s been pretty good and then there’s a couple of them like tonight, I think there was one in Miami too, where yes, he went six today but gave up a lot of runs."
Peralta, who will become a free agent for the first time at the end of the season, was coming off one of his gutsiest efforts of the season last time out against the Mariners when his lone damage was a leadoff home run to J.P. Crawford, He allowed one earned run in six innings and pinned down his fourth win.
But now with Tuesday's outing, Peralta has given up four or more runs in three of his last four starts. For the first time in his career, he has given up six or more hits in four straight starts as his ERA drifted to 4.04. His 1.32 WHIP would be the highest over a full season since his second campaign back in 2019.
"Not good right now. Talking about numbers at the end of the day, it’s all that matters," Peralta said when asked to assess his season. "I’ve been in this situation before. The good thing is that I’m healthy.
"I have 18, 19 more games in front of me. I just have to keep competing. That’s it. At the end of the day, it’s the way that I see it all the time. I just come to compete all the time and at the end of the day, my numbers are going to be there."
After two scoreless frames against the Cardinals, Peralta's outing unraveled in the third inning when he walked Nolan Gorman on four straight pitches to begin the frame and then surrendered a double to Nathan Church. JJ Wetherholt tagged a first-pitch fastball to right-center field for a two-run single to move the Mets behind.
Then, Peralta hit Ivan Herrera and Jordan Walker pulled an RBI double to right field to boost the Cardinals ahead 3-0. They tacked on one more run in the inning before Alec Burleson extended the lead to 6-0 with a two-run home run in the fifth inning.
"I think losing some counts and the third was the inning that changed everything for me," Peralta said. "I kept attacking, and they were really aggressive."
Adding to the confusion for the Mets was Peralta's average fastball velocity dripping down to 92.9 mph - 1.1 mph below his season average.
"I felt it a little bit, but I don’t know," Peralta said. "I feel good, so it doesn’t matter about that. It just happens sometimes."
Peralta's rough outing, paired with a near-non-existent showing from the Mets offense, squashed out the team's momentum from last weekend when they took two out of three from the Padres.
Peralta has faith that he can figure out his up-and-down start. He's done it before and there are plenty of starts ahead of him. But now more than ever, the Mets need him to provide the security that they hoped he would when they acquired him.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Freddy Peralta struggling to find consistency in NY Mets rotation