The Pirates have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran right-hander Wily Peralta, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. He’ll be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee with the Bucs this spring.
Peralta, 34, enjoyed a nice two-year run with the Tigers in 2021-22 — his most recent experience at the major league level. In that time, he pitched 132 innings, split between the rotation and bullpen, and worked to a 2.93 ERA but more concerning rate stats. During his time as a Tiger, Peralta posted a well below-average 15.8% strikeout rate while walking 10.9% of his opponents. He kept the ball on the ground at a strong 49.2% clip, but his shaky K/BB profile limited him to a minor league deal with the Nationals in free agency last winter.
Things didn’t go well for Peralta in the Nats organization. The longtime Brewers righty opened the season with Washington’s Triple-A affiliate in Rochester and wound up starting 24 games for the Red Wings. His command troubles persisted (12% walk rate, 21.7% strikeout rate), and Peralta was tagged for a grisly 6.31 ERA in 102 2/3 innings.
Peralta broke into the big leagues with the Brewers back in 2012 and was a fixture in the Milwaukee rotation from 2013-16. Through his first 113 games (112 starts), the righty posted a 4.18 ERA in 647 1/3 frames with below-average strikeout rates but solid command and a strong 52% ground-ball rate. That nice start to his career was quite some time ago, however, and Peralta has had success in the 2018, 2021 and 2022 seasons, he’s logged a 4.53 ERA with an 11.7% walk rate in his past 264 MLB frames. As recently as 2022, he was still sitting at 95.5 mph with both his four-seamer and sinker — but that was in a relief role. Peralta averaged 95.8 mph as a starter earlier in his career but sat 94.1 mph out of the Tigers’ rotation in 2022.
The Pirates won’t be banking on much from Peralta, but he’ll head to camp in hopes of winning a roster spot — be it at the back of the Pittsburgh rotation or perhaps as a long reliever in the bullpen. The Pirates currently have Mitch Keller, Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales locked into rotation spots, but the final two spots are mostly up for grabs after righty Johan Oviedo underwent Tommy John surgery earlier in the offseason. Luis Ortiz, Bailey Falter, Quinn Priester and Roansy Contreras are among the in-house options, though further additions shouldn’t be ruled out. Top prospect and 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick Paul Skenes figures to make his MLB debut sometime next summer as well.
Did he not pitch last year? Has some decent looking numbers. Not a bad minor league signing. Lots of these guys end up becoming a very good reliever each year out of nowhere. Twins did it with Brock Stewart last year.
He was in AAA with the Nats and had a 6.31 ERA in 24 starts.
I think Washington tried to turn him back into a starter and it didn’t go well in AAA. He’d been a reliever for most of the last several years.
Pirates are definitely adding him to compete for one of the last two spots in the bullpen and he’s had some moderate success as a reliever since 2017. Solid low risk, medium reward signing.
It’s a minors deal with an invite to spring training. Virtually no risk, all (potential) upside.
That scared me for a second. I thought it was Wandy…
Same!!
Dont hit refresh. Unless you’re a Pads fan.
That aged well….
Portend to Wandy perchance?
Dude you were more right than you knew.
bro just predicted the future
Big Wily Style.
He better pan out.Their last series of the year is in the Bronx so it’s important they clinch before then.
155 IP of 2.25 ERA ball with a 27K/9 and -2BB/9 incoming. 4th place Cy Young Finish behind only Mitch Keller, Paul Skenes, and Marco Gonzalez.
Nah, 5th place behind Keller, Skenes, and Gonzales. Jared Jones is gonna finish 4th place in CYA voting and 2nd in ROY voting.
Seems like he could be a decent long reliever. He didn’t do great at Triple-A, but I wonder how much of that is because he had to adjust to the ABS. His stuff at the very least still looks good.
It’s that time of the year when BC, knowing there’s a need for another starting pitcher goes dumpster diving for an over the hill minor league pitcher
Just a few weeks back both Nutting and Cherington said they were only halfway at signing free agent players or making trades
Spring training starts in 2 weeks exactly
They still need at least one reputable starter. I have to wonder if BC is still trying to get that guy via a trade from Miami or Seattle. They could have jumped on Ryu, Clevenger or Lorenzen who would all be inexpensive and have decent records, but haven’t. done so. I have to believe he is still trying to wait out another team to get a young controllable starter..
Only a minor league deal for Big Wily? Pirates really are that cheap.
Currently 41 on the 40-man with the Chapman signing. No room for a guy who only played in AAA last season.
Most MLB players played in AAA at some point in their career.
Someone has to be removed from the 40 man roster once Chapman signs his contract which hasn’t happened yet
CSN DFA’d and still no room for a guy who didn’t pitch in MLB last year… lol.
@OldYork … Why on earth would the Pirates offer a MLB deal to a guy who would accept a NRI?
@terrier
IIRC doesn’t require a 40 man spot. as a non-roster invitee
That’s exactly my point. OldYork said the Bucs were too cheap to offer Peralta a MLB deal rather than NRI.
Why would they when they don’t have any free spots on the 40-man.? I think he was just trolling and I bit, TBH!
gotcha
Before they signed him was also before they signed Chapman to his contract and were already at 40 on the roster
before before before
It looks like TheMan’s batteries died mid-sentence… haha.
It’s occured to me that some of you might have blocks on others – hence lots of needless comments thinking you’re explaining things that quite clearly don’t require it if you have the context of the whole conversation.
my comment was complete, and if it needs explaining further, perhaps it’s your batteries that need charging
Do you seriously believe that my comment in reply to OldYork’s pissy jibe at the Pirates spending was in ignorance of the 40-man rules?
He said the Bucs should’ve offered an MLB contract.
I said that the 40-man was already overloaded due to Chapman being the 41st man so Peralta took the best deal available as a NRI.
At no point did I literally think the Buccos had 41 men on the roster – you only have to check back to my reply to a comment you made over a week ago where I said I’d drop Selby first, CSN 2nd and Williams 3rd.
Gonna be brutal now, but you and Tireolddude aren’t sharp enough to be as patronising and glib as you’re trying to be.
You come across as two old men shouting at the clouds with nothing better to do.
great signing
Minor League Deal
Non-Roster
Possible reasonable back end starter.
Possible reasonable long man
Possible BP arm.
no risk pickup for the pirates
Now if they can get Bellinger to do a similar contract…..(/s)
Only time will tell. Some of these guys resurrect their careers in New organizations.
YOU get a Peralta, and YOU get a Peralta…
More camp fodder.