Dustin Peterson’s major league debut will officially go down as May 28, 2018, but it actually occurred May 29, just shy of 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.
It wasn’t as dramatic or triumphant as one might’ve scripted, and perhaps a little embarrassing in the view of some – Peterson struck out one pitch after losing track of the count and taking a few steps toward first base on ball three. It was nonetheless terrific for Peterson because, well, it was the Braves prospect’s big-league debut and that’s something beyond special.
Something only a tiny percentage of players ever experience and none of them ever, ever forget.
“Yeah, it definitely was,” Peterson said 15 hours later on Tuesday afternoon, preparing for his second game with the Braves, standing at his locker stall, which still had a bare spot where his nameplate would go soon.
“Getting my first big-league at-bat at 1:30 in the morning, that was something, that’s for sure. Definitely something I’ll be telling to my kids. But yeah, it was still an unbelievable moment. It’s kind of tough to describe right now, but it was just unbelievable.”
Peterson, 23, is a former second-round draft pick with San Diego who toiled for all or parts of six minor league seasons with the Padres and Braves before getting his first call to the majors. It came shortly after 4 p.m. Monday as he was preparing for a game at Triple-A Gwinnett, where Peterson hit .267 with four homers, 19 RBIs and a .776 OPS in 26 games and had recently return from a stint on the disabled list for left wrist tendinitis.
Gwinnett manager Damon Berryhill sent word that he wanted to see Peterson. This is how these things often go, and often the player has at least some idea of the possibility, having followed the major league team’s daily developments and knowing when a player gets injured, e.g. Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna’s widely viewed injury Sunday at Boston.
But Peterson has been knocking at the door long enough and had enough setbacks and disappointments to not take anything for granted, and so when the words came out of Berryhill’s mouth the youngster was overwhelmed.
“We were kind of waiting around (at Gwinnett). Our (batting practice) got cancelled and then someone was like, ‘Hey, Skip’s looking for you, Damon’s looking for you.’ So I walked into his office,” Peterson said, “and he told me I was going to the big leagues and I just started freaking out. He went to shake my hand and I just gave him the biggest high five. Didn’t even shake his hand, just gave him the biggest high five. And I was just amped up and fired up. It was awesome.”
The first call he made was to his older brother D.J. Peterson, 26, a former first-round draft pick and well-traveled Triple-A player who’s with the Reds organization now and had homered in an early game Tuesday before little brother called.
“He missed (the call) and then he called me right back and he goes, ‘Dude, what’s going on?’” Peterson said. “ Because he thought I should be in batting practice; I called him at, like, 4 o’clock. He’s like, ‘What’s going on?’ I was like, I’m going to the show. And he started crying. He was super-pumped for me. He said, ‘I’m going to call you back, I’m looking for the next flight out.’”
Since D.J.’s team had already played Tuesday, the Reds farm director gave him permission to leave the team and fly to Atlanta to see his brother’s game.
“So he ended up booking the next flight out. He had gone to the field and all he had was a backpack and the clothes he was wearing, and he’s like, ‘I’m coming. I don’t need anything, I’m coming,’” Dustin Petersons said. “But there was bad weather and his flight ended up getting cancelled. And he goes, ‘maybe get your first hit tomorrow when everyone’s there.’”
On Tuesday, his brother arrived and so did Peterson’s parents, who caught the first flight they could book from Phoenix after Dustin called them with the news. Peterson wasn’t in the lineup for Tuesday night’s game against the Mets, but there was a reasonably good chance he would at least get to pinch-hit or enter the game in a double-switch in the late innings.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said Peterson would be used off the bench, at least for now. Preston Tucker and Charlie Culberson are likely to get most if not all the starts in left field until Acuna returns from the disabled list.
Getting that first at-bat in Monday night’s late, late game had already helped settle his nerves and make things start to feel a little more normal, as did breakfast with his family Tuesday morning.
“It was good for him to get out there (in Monday’s game),” Snitker said. “He’s come a long way. He’s another one that had quite the journey getting here. Sidelined a couple of times and whatnot. So it’s good to see him. He’s getting back (to form). I kind of saw it in spring training. He’s doing fine, doing good, kind of getting back to where he was two years ago.”
Peterson was named the Braves’ minor league Player of the Year in 2016 after hitting .282 with 52 extra-base hits (12 homers) and 88 RBIs in 132 games at Double-A Mississippi, with a .343 OBP and .431 slugging percentage. He followed that by hitting .324 with seven extra-base hits in 71 plate appearances in the 2016 Arizona Fall League, then started strong at 2017 spring training, putting himself in position for a possible opening-day roster spot as a fourth outfielder or, at worst, in position for a call-up if the Braves had an injury.
But then he broke the hamate bone in his left hand late in spring training, requiring surgery that forced him to miss about half of the season and left him with decreased power when he did return. It wasn’t until last winter that Peterson was able to work out and fully restore his strength.
Snitker said if he’d not gotten hurt in 2017 spring training, Peterson likely would’ve been the guy to get a chance to fill in when Matt Kemp got hurt last season. Instead, his major league arrival was pushed back another year, until Peterson finally got the call Monday.
Back to Monday afternoon: Gwinnett’s ballpark being in the northern Atlanta suburbs and Atlanta traffic being Atlantic traffic, Peterson knew when he was told at about 4 p.m. that he’d better get hopping if he was to make it to SunTrust Park in Cobb County for their scheduled 7:10 p.m. game, the second of a Tuesday doubleheader against the Mets. But just in case he didn’t realize it, Berryhill stressed the time urgency.
“He was like, ‘You might be in the (Braves lineup) tonight, you’ve got to get going,’” Peterson said, smiling. “So I got all my stuff packed up and the game was at 7:10, and there was traffic and I was like, dang, I’m not going to get there till 6:30. Skipper (Berryhill) was like, ‘I think you’re playing, you ought to get going.’ But I made it, got an at-bat and it was unbelievable.”
As for that at-bat, it came with two out in the ninth inning, no more than a couple of thousand fans left in the ballpark after a long day and night of baseball and delays.
Peterson had a 2-2 count when Met closer Jeurys Familia threw him a fastball outside. Thinking it was ball four, Peterson started walking to first base.
Familiar threw his arms to his side as if to say, what is going on? The ump notified him it was ball three and Peterson sheepishly walked backward to the plate, got back in the batter’s box, and took a called third strike.
Game over.
But major league career underway.
“Yeah, I swore that was ball four,” he said, able to smile about it Tuesday. “I was amped, yep. I was trying to just battle. It was 1:30 in the morning, I guess you could say that had a little effect. But it was a fun night last night.”
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