Wily Peralta Joins The Show

The Milwaukee Brewers have promoted Wily Peralta. The right-handed starter, ranked as the club’s No. 3 prospect, received the called on Saturday and will likely pitch out of the bullpen at the MLB level.

The burly prospect has made three starts at the triple-A level in 2012 with stellar results. In 17.0 innings of work he’s allowed just nine hits and six walks while striking out 13. Peralta has also been inducing a high number of ground-ball outs, something that has helped him survive pitching in the potent Pacific Coast League. Last season, spent mostly at double-A, the 22-year-old pitcher struck out 157 batters in 150.2 innings while again showing above-average ground-ball rates.

During the pre-season Top 15 prospect list for the Brewers I threw a Bartolo Colon comp on Peralta, as a heavy-set right-hander with good stuff (90-95 mph fastball, slider, changeup) who should be a big league workhorse with the ceiling of a No. 2-3 starter. To reach that ceiling, though, he’ll have to improve the consistency of his secondary pitches and his overall control.

Milwaukee’s No. 5 starter Chris Narveson is likely headed for season-ending shoulder surgery and reliever Marco Estrada is making the spot start on Saturday against the Colorado Rockies. Peralta should be available to relieve Estrada, if necessary, but could then take over the role going forward. The club has a strong starting rotation with the likes of veterans Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum and Yovani Gallardo at the top of the heap, so the playoff contender can easily afford to carry a rookie starter – especially one with Peralta’s potential. Even as a rookie, he could produce similar numbers to what Narveson produced between 2010 and 2011.