{"id":614053,"date":"2026-03-09T00:42:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/614053\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T00:42:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T00:42:31","slug":"freddy-peralta-bringing-a-new-dynamic-to-mets-clubhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/614053\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddy Peralta bringing a new dynamic to Mets clubhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Freddy Peralta was a ball of energy in the Mets clubhouse before facing the Yankees on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whereas most pitchers prefer solitude on their scheduled day to pitch, even in spring training, Peralta was engaged in a basketball game, shouting as he attempted off-balance shots and laughing most of the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just be myself every day,\u201d Peralta said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if I\u2019m pitching or not pitching, that is what I do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

On this day he faced a skeleton Yankees lineup at Clover Park. <\/p>\n

After a rough first inning \u2014 with a misplay and weak contact contributing factors \u2014 Peralta rebounded into form over the next two to provide the home crowd with a glimpse of the ace who will head to the mound for Opening Day in 2 \u00bd weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peralta struck out four over three innings, allowing three hits and one walk with two earned runs in the 10-4 victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An adjustment helped. After relying on his fastball early, Peralta turned to his changeup in the second inning and curveball in the third. The Yankees were tamed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewFreddy Peralta\u2019s energy is felt in the Mets clubhouse. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the first inning, me and Alvy had a conversation and we thought that was the right way to do it,\u201d Peralta said, referring to Francisco Alvarez. \u201cWe saw that they were swinging a little like they were trying to hunt the fastball earlier and we tried to miss it a little bit more. I told [Alvarez] and asked him and he said, \u2018Yes,\u2019 and it worked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was the first time Alvarez handled Peralta (who was starting his second exhibition game this spring) in the Grapefruit League.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What has Alvarez learned about Peralta?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe commands his fastball, he commands the curveball and he\u2019s got a great changeup, too,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cFor him it\u2019s more about command. Every pitch is nasty, so he has just got to command the pitch and that\u2019s it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peralta was asked about his chemistry with Alvarez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had conversations with him even before we got here to spring training,\u201d Peralta said. \u201cAnd back then I knew that he was going to be very good because he\u2019s very interested and makes you do well for ourselves, for the team, for everything. He showed me that he wants to win, he cared about it, he cared about performance and that is No. 1 for catching.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Already together in camp with Peralta for over a month, Alvarez has come to appreciate the energy the pitcher has brought to the clubhouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great teammate,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cHe\u2019s always happy. He brings a lot of energy and he\u2019s going to be big for us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two will work together (provided they remain healthy) more often than not this season. This day against the Yankees represented a nice beginning for the duo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewFreddy Peralta (L.) and Francisco Alvarez will work together more often than not this season. Corey Sipkin for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in a good place,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said, referring to the chemistry between Peralta and Alvarez. \u201cThis goes back to the very first few days of camp when he was throwing bullpens and Alvy was catching him and just kind of get to know some of the targets that he likes, some of the things he likes to do with the baseball as far as the changeup, the breaking ball, the fastball, against lefties and righties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, the way they are talking about the game between innings it\u2019s just in a good spot. Alvy is asking good questions and Peralta is giving him really good feedback.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peralta likely has another two starts remaining in the Grapefruit League before getting the ball against the Pirates on March 26 at Citi Field. The next step will be buildup to four and five innings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And there could be additional pregame basketball games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always betting a coffee or something,\u201d Peralta said. \u201cSo, somebody has to bring me a coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Freddy Peralta was a ball of energy in the Mets clubhouse before facing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,1347,753,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,185,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-614053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-francisco-alvarez","10":"tag-freddy-peralta","11":"tag-mets","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-mets","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkmets","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-spring-training"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116196446333287473","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}