Trade Profile: Freddy Peralta, SP
Freddy Peralta, SP
Position: SP B/T: R/R
Age: 30 (6/4/1996)
2025 Traditional Stats: 33 G, 176.2 IP, 2.70 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 204 SO, 66 BB
2025 Advanced Stats: 154 ERA+, 28.2 K%, 9.1 BB%, 3.47 xERA, 3.63 FIP, 3.85 xFIP, 3.6 fWAR, 5.5. bWAR
Contract Status: Free agent after 2026
Rundown
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns is very familiar with starting pitcher Freddy Peralta from his time as the general manager of the Brewers. In 2015, one of his first moves in Milwaukee was to trade first baseman Adam Lind for Peralta, Daniel Missaki, and Carlos Herrera. Peralta made his debut in 2018, throwing 78.1 innings to a 4.25 ERA and 1.136 WHIP. Prior to the 2020 season, Stearns extended Peralta on a five-year $15.5 million contract that included an $8.1 million club option in 2025 and an $8 million club option for the upcoming 2026 season.
Peralta’s true breakout came in 2021 when he threw 144.1 innings to a 2.81 ERA and 0.970 WHIP with a 33.6% strikeout rate and a 9.7% walk rate.
Since signing his extension, Peralta has thrown 767.2 innings to a 3.33 ERA and 1.10 WHIP with a 29.9% strikeout rate and 9.0% walk rate.
In 2025, Peralta pitched to a career-high 176.2 innings pitched and a career-best 2.70 ERA. His 1.08 WHIP ranked thirteenth among qualified starters, just behind Cristopher Sánchez, his 28.2% strikeout rate placed eighth between Hunter Brown and Joe Ryan, and he held the third-best average against at .191, just behind Carlos Rodón, and above names like Jacob deGrom and Bryan Woo.
Peralta throws a four-seam fastball, changeup, curveball, and slider. His slider generated the highest whiff rate of any of his pitches in 2025 at 53.4%, while his changeup generated the most chase at 34.4%. His slider has plus spin at 2,453 RPM, and it comes in at 83.7 MPH. His changeup comes in at 88.9 MPH with 16.8 inches of horizontal break, and he only threw it in the zone 35.6% of the time, relying on chase. He also relied on chase with his curveball, which he threw in the zone 38.2% of the time and generated a 31.8% chase rate.
His four-seam fastball is the only pitch he throws in the zone more than half the time, coming in at 51.9%. At a run value of plus-9 per Baseball Savant, his fastball was in the top 15.2% of baseball last year. By run value, it was tied as his best pitch with his changeup. From his 38-degree arm angle, he throws his four-seam with 16.8 inches of iBV, 4.6 inches of horizontal break, and a -4.1 VAA.
Peralta overall is above average to borderline elite in many of the categories Statcast tracks:
- 92nd percentile in zone contact (78.4%)
- 90th percentile in hard hit rate (34.5%)
- 87th percentile in average exit velocity (87.6 MPH)
- 84th percentile in K-BB% (19.1%)
- 84th percentile in strikeout rate (28.2%)
- 83rd percentile in whiff rate (30.1%)
- 81st percentile in extension (6.8 feet)
- 59th percentile in fastball velocity (94.8%)
Now there are some areas where he is not at the top
- 48th percentile in chase rate (28.4%)
- 32nd percentile in barrel rate (9.3%)
- 30th percentile in walk rate (9.1%)
- 25th percentile in ground ball rate (37.5%)
- 1st percentile in zone% (45%)
Peralta’s biggest flaw is that he does not fill up the zone, relying on a chase rate around league average and an elite ability to induce weak contact. This is not to say he cannot have sustained success with this approach – his zone rate was in line with two-time Cy Young Award-winner Blake Snell (44.2%). The biggest difference with Snell is that he does generate an elite chase rate at 33.9% (95th percentile) while Peralta has largely hovered around league average.
Trade Package
On the January 6, 2026 edition of Foul Territory, Ken Rosenthal stated he expects Peralta to bring back a nice haul, even if it is not as big as the haul Corbin Burnes brought back before the 2024 season – Joey Ortiz, DL Hall and the 34th pick in the draft. He also speculated on Fair Territory on January 5 that the Brewers could be looking to receive a major league-ready pitcher in return.
Brewers Receive:
- SP Brandon Sproat
- IF Jacob Reimer
Mets Receive:
Recommendation
Freddy Peralta would be a great get for the Mets and could be a candidate for an extension. He is entering his age-30 season and will be making $8 million. Any team trading for him before the 2026 season starts would be able to attach the qualifying offer to him entering free agency. It is possible that Peralta would be willing to sign an extension that begins in the 2026 season, replacing his 2026 salary of $8 million with a much higher one. Jon Heyman of the New York Post previously reported in June 2025 that Peralta had approached the Brewers about an extension but was unsuccessful.
It is always possible that with enough teams involved, the bidding exceeds this package, but if the Mets could acquire Peralta for this price, especially if they are able to secure a five-to-six-year extension, this seems like an easy price to pay.
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