David Peterson (baseball)


David John Peterson is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball.

Amateur career

Peterson attended Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado. In 2013, he played in the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game at Wrigley Field. In 2014, his senior year, he went 3-0 with a 1.15 ERA. He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 28th round of the 2014 MLB draft, but did not sign and attended the University of Oregon, where he played college baseball for the Ducks.
Peterson started 14 games as a freshman at Oregon in 2015, going 4–6 with a 4.39 earned run average and 81 strikeouts. As a sophomore in 2016, he went 4–5 with a 3.63 ERA and 61 strikeouts over 13 starts. During the summer, he played for the United States national team. Peterson became Oregon's number one starter in 2017. On March 3, he set a school record with 17 strikeouts, breaking the previous record of 14 held by Tyler Anderson. On April 29, he broke his record after recording 20.

Professional career

Peterson was drafted by the New York Mets with the 20th pick in the first round of the 2017 MLB draft. He signed and was assigned to the Brooklyn Cyclones, where he spent the whole season, posting a 2.45 ERA in three games.
MLB.com ranked Peterson as New York's second best prospect going into the 2018 season. He began 2018 with the Columbia Fireflies and was promoted to the St. Lucie Mets in June. In 22 total starts between the two teams, he went 7-10 with a 3.16 ERA. He spent 2019 with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, going 3-6 with a 4.19 ERA over 24 starts, striking out 122 batters over 116 innings.
Peterson had his contract selected to the 40-man roster on July 28, 2020. He made his major league debut on July 28, 2020, against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, getting the win after pitching 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and an error with two walks and three strikeouts in 78 pitches. After the start, Peterson described it as "one of the greatest days of" his life.