After Jace Peterson hit .182 with a .260 on-base percentage and just one extra-base hit in his first 21 games this season and got sent down to Triple-A, plenty of folks questioned if the opening-day second baseman would be a big-league lineup regular again.
And when he continued to struggle while playing second base and center field at Triple-A Gwinnett, hitting .186 with a meager .533 OPS in 26 games, some wondered if he was even good enough to be a major league utility player.
Peterson was recalled to the majors anyway, because the struggling Braves had injuries and weren’t getting production from backup infielders. And since his return to the majors, he’s effectively and efficiently silenced the skeptics the only way a hitter can. By hitting. A lot.
Since returning to the big club June 10, Peterson had a .352 average, .420 OBP and .493 slugging percentage in 19 games before Friday, with four doubles, two homers, seven RBIs and almost as many walks (eight) as strikeouts (nine).
“I’m a good hitter,” said Peterson, whose unselfish attitude and work ethic have made him popular in the Braves clubhouse since the first day he reported to spring training in 2015, after being traded from the Padres the previous winter. “At the end of the day I know I’m a good hitter. I know that I have all the abilities to be a good hitter at this level. Everybody is different. It takes time.
“It’s a good stretch that I’m on, but I want to keep it going, keep getting better. I want to continue to keep working.”
He took a career-best 11-game hitting streak into Friday night’s game against the Marlins, when Peterson as out of the lineup for a rest after starting 11 consecutive games at second base and the leadoff spot, and making 18 starts at second base in 20 games since returning from Triple-A. The platoon that he was used in early in the season is no more.
Peterson was 16-for-46 (.348) with two homers during the streak, the longest by a Brave this season.
“Just kind of a new lease on life,” said Braves interim manager Brian Snitker, who was Gwinnett’s manager during Peterson’s nearly six weeks in Triple-A. “He went down with a good attitude. Probably didn’t perform like he wanted (at Gwinnett), but evidently it did him some good, because he’s come back up here with a renewed energy, and has energized us and done a really good job.
“I’m happy for him because I know he’s a very conscientious kid and works real hard at his craft. It’s good to see him rewarded for it.”
Peterson said there’s been no secret to his successful turnaround, just a lot of hard work with then-Gwinnett hitting coach John Moses (who’s now Gwinnett manager) and Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer since returning, and a matter of getting back to the approach he thrived early last season before a thumb injury.
“I think it was just a matter of taking a step back and getting sent down when I did,” he said. “I really didn’t feel like I deserved it at the time, then when I got called up I wasn’t exactly doing what I wanted to do to get called up, either.
“It just was a matter of me getting back to my gameplan, executing my plan, and it started in Triple-A. Me and Johnny Mo (Moses) worked on some stuff that we thought we needed to do, along with Seitz when I got back here. Wasn’t getting the results (in Triple-A) but I was hitting balls good, I felt good.
“It’s always hard when you’re not getting the results, but it’s baseball and you’ve just got to keep going, keep swinging and keep playing.”
Peterson, who turned 26 in May, hasn’t played as much baseball as most big-leaguers his age, since he has a multi-sport background and played college football at McNeese State.
He won the second-base job in 2015 spring training and appeared to be coming into his own when he .309 with 16 extra-base hits, 29 RBIs and a .389 OBP during a 50-game stretch from late April through June 21, 2015.
But after tearing a thumb ligament and playing through the worsening discomfort without telling anyone of the severity, Peterson hit .204 with 21 RBIs and a .569 OPS over his final 87 games in 2015. And when coupled with his bad start this season, he had a 108-game stretch in which he hit just .201 with 25 RBIs and a .556 OPS.
Now, he’s got it going again. Before Friday the Braves were 10-9 in his 19 games played since returning from Triple-A, and he was a big reason for the offensive improvement in that stretch.
“Last year my my thumb injury definitely hindered me, as far as just getting my hands through the zone where I wanted to attack the baseball,” said Peterson, who had the hand and thumb in a cast for nearly two months after the season. “But this year it’s not an issue, it’s not an excuse. My thumb is 100 percent fine. I haven’t had any trouble with it since I got the cast off.
“Last year is last year, it’s said and done. This year is this year, and I’m just looking forward to continuing to work, continuing to keep my same gameplan.”
