Dustin Peterson — the Peterson not named Jace acquired in the Justin Upton trade —recently was named the “rising” player in the Braves’ farm system in Baseball America’s midseason report.
That word holds a little different meaning now for the 20-year-old outfielder from Gilbert, Ariz., and former second-round pick of the Padres who plays left field for the Carolina Mudcats.
Not only has he bounced back from a disappointing season last year in low-A ball with the Padres and learned to play the outfield over third base with relative ease. He is grateful to be playing period, feeling fortunate that he could stand up and walk out of a hospital on his own after the Carolina Mudcats’ bus crash May 12.
Peterson was seated on the right side of the team bus, dozing in and out of sleep around 3:30 a.m., when the driver began to lose control, and he realized they were going to crash. The bus went off the road into a ditch and landed on its right side.
“I thought we were rolling off a cliff,” Peterson said. “I had a person land on my neck, that’s how I got whiplash, and half my body was hanging out the window dragging on the ground. I thought that was it.”
Only after the bus stopped skidding and he was able to take inventory of his body did Peterson realize he was OK. Or at least he thought he was, outside of some stiffness in his neck and scratches and bruises along his right arm.
“I had played football all my life, growing up,” Peterson said. “I’ve had my neck dinged up a little bit growing up, so I figured, ‘Oh I’m all right, probably just some whiplash, if anything.’ I knew I was OK. I just wanted to help everyone else get off the bus.”
He was evaluated later by a doctor after the team arrived safely in Myrtle Beach, and had X-rays taken. After reading the X-ray, the doctor suspected Peterson had a hangman’s fracture in his neck. Peterson was then taken by ambulance to a Myrtle Beach, S.C., hospital for an MRI and CT scan. He spent four hours immobilized on his back, strapped to a table.
“All I could do was pray and talk to my family to keep me up about it,” said Peterson, whose father flew in from a business trip in Washington and his mother from Arizona.
The doctor came in and much to his relief, told Peterson he was OK. He could get up and walk out. Peterson was diagnosed with whiplash. He was sent to Florida to begin rehab to get himself back to baseball.
“I feel pretty blessed,” Peterson said. “I know people were watching down on me. It was just a crazy moment.”
Peterson was hitting .324 at the time of the crash, with multiple hits in eight of his previous 14 games. He was able to return for the Mudcats three weeks later and got hits in five of his first six games back.
“I was still a little sore, but I was OK to go out there and do it,” Peterson said. “I was just blessed and enjoying the moment being out there on the field. I was really enjoying that, ‘This is what I do with my life.’”
Peterson was drafted in the second round by the Padres in 2013 on the same day his brother D.J. was drafted in the first round by the Mariners out of the University of New Mexico. MLB Network had cameras in their uncle’s home to film their reaction live on draft day. Peterson continued to rely on his brother’s encouragement during his comeback.
D.J. Peterson, now in Triple-A, tweeted him, “Our grandfather was looking down on you little brother. Always be thankful and count your blessings.”
Three weeks after Peterson returned to action, he represented the Carolina League in its All-Star game against the California League.
Peterson has cooled off since the All-Star break. Entering this weekend his season average was .249, still up from .232 last year with Fort Wayne, and his on-base percentage was .320, up from .274 last year. His walks are up (one every 2.4 games, up from one every five games. His strikeouts are down (1.08 strikeouts per game to .86.) He had 38 errors at third base in 101 games for Fort Wayne in low-A ball. Entering the weekend he did not have an error in left field for Carolina.
“I’ve just been trying to cut down strikeouts and have a good approach,” Peterson said. “Just have quality at-bats and help my team win any way I can, whether it’s hits, RBIs, moving guys over, whatever I can do. (I’m trying to be) a little more disciplined, just battling, seeing pitches deeper.”
Bus rides are still hard, but inevitable. They give Peterson all the more motivation to make it to the major leagues, where planes are the primary method of travel.
“I still have nerves every time I’m on a bus,” Peterson said. “I don’t think I’ll ever sleep on a bus again in my entire life.”
