In his sophomore season a year ago, Peterson solidified himself as the ace of Florida’s staff as he moved into the Friday night role. In 69.1 innings across 16 games, he posted a 4.28 ERA and a 4.66 FIP while striking out 31.5% of the hitters he faced and walking 10.5%.
Peterson opened this season as the ace once again, but through eight starts, he was recently moved into the Saturday role, giving way to Florida’s Aidan King, who has simply been better than Peterson thus far.
Peterson’s overall numbers have improved from 2025 to 2026, but he has been a bit more unreliable on a start-to-start basis due to his spotty command and often inability to work deep into games. In 45 innings through nine starts thus far, Peterson owns a 3.60 ERA and a 2.99 FIP while striking out a career-high 34.4% of the batters he has faced, but his walk rate is up to 13.0%.
In Peterson’s first Saturday start and most recent for the Gators as of this article, he proved why he’s still a highly-touted prospect against a deep Georgia Bulldogs lineup. He threw a career-high seven innings against Georgia, surrendering just one earned run on eight hits, no walks, and four strikeouts on 97 pitches.