Peralta earns No. 5 spot in Brewers' rotation

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Brewers named Freddy Peralta their No. 5 starter on Thursday, meaning veteran Josh Lindblom will open the season in the bullpen.

With that decision, Milwaukee's season-opening rotation is set. Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Adrian Houser are tentatively scheduled to start the first three games against the Twins at American Family Field, followed by Brett Anderson, Peralta and Woodruff in the next three games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Lindblom might not be far from joining that group. The Brewers plan to expand their rotation at times this season to cover the jump from 60 regular-season games in 2020 to a full 162-game schedule in ’21.

“Josh is going to make a lot of starts for us,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He pitched out of the 'pen at the end of last year, so he’s game for it. He knows what he has to do. I think Josh is going to pitch a lot of innings for us. I think he’s capable of pitching a lot of innings, and we’re going to lean on him for that. He’s not going to start one of the first five games; after that, who knows?”

Peralta has been more effective as a reliever so far in his Major League career, logging a 3.59 ERA and 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings in 80 1/3 frames out of the bullpen, compared to a 5.45 ERA and 11.2 strikeouts per nine in 112 1/3 innings in starts. But he got the nod to start over Lindblom on the strength of an expanding arsenal; this is the second year in which Peralta is working with an 80-82-mph slider in addition to his varied four-seam fastballs, which sit at 92-97 mph, and curveballs. He’s also throwing a changeup this spring.

“I thought his last start against Seattle was a great example of how he’s pitching like a starting pitcher,” Counsell said of Peralta, who allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings on Sunday. “The rhythm of the game, the pitches he used, the weapons he had for different hitters, different handedness of hitters. Just really a complete step up from a couple years ago, when he had to rely on the fastball, essentially.

“He’s worked really hard to get to this place, and I think he’s had a great spring. He’s added things to his game that I think give him a chance of a great, great season.”

Some of Peralta’s best moments have come as a starter, beginning with one of the most memorable Major League debuts in Brewers history. On Mother’s Day 2018, Peralta was supposed to pitch in front of his parents for the first time as a professional. They’d traveled from the Dominican Republic to see him start for Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Then, plans changed. The Brewers needed a spot starter after Chase Anderson fell ill, so they summoned Peralta – and, it turned out, his whole family -- up Interstate 25 to Coors Field in Denver. With his mom in the stands, Peralta delivered a gem, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and striking out 13 in a 7-3 win over the Rockies. It was a Brewers rookie record for strikeouts, and the most strikeouts for a pitcher making his first big league start since the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg fanned 14 in his 2010 debut.

Peralta's finest Major League start came April 3, 2019, at Cincinnati, when Peralta threw 84 fastballs in 100 pitches over eight scoreless innings of a 1-0 win over the Reds.

Yet, Peralta didn’t sustain that success, to the chagrin of his catchers who love working with the fun-loving right-hander. With more weapons at his disposal, including that slider, the difference between Peralta then and Peralta now, said Manny Piña, is, “huge.”

“It was so different from when I caught Freddy the first time in Colorado on Mother’s Day,” Piña said. “When he got here, his fastball was like 96, 97, and he was throwing it every time, like 90 percent. Then, he had a little curveball and changeup. But when the curveball didn’t work, that’s what he was going to use -- just fastball.

"Now, he has learned he can’t live with just the fastball. He needed something else, like a slider, curveball and changeup. He was working so hard in the offseason to figure out how he can use the breaking ball. He is using the slider. That’s what he’s doing here. Now, he can control the slider and use it behind in the count, up in the count, early in the count. He can do it, and when he does it, he’s good.”

Can Peralta be a starter long term?

“Yes,” Piña said. “I think he’s going to be a successful starting pitcher. When he was a starting pitcher here, he had [a] fastball and curveball. Now, he has a fastball, curveball, slider, changeup. If he can do what he’s shown here, I think he’s going to have a very good year, and he’s going to help us a lot.”

This is Peralta’s desired outcome.

"I love doing both,” Peralta said earlier this month. “But a starting pitcher is what I've been my whole career, and that's why I feel really good doing it and that's why I am ready for it."