David Peterson Hopes to Stick Around With the Mets

David Peterson knows what it is like to be the injured pitcher stuck on the sideline.

He was just a week away from his senior season at Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colo., when he broke the fibula in his right leg in a pickup basketball game. Peterson, now 26, snapped the bone in two places while pushing off for a layup. The injury required surgery and all but forced him to attend college.

He called it a “life-changing” moment.

“It crushed me,” said Peterson, a left-handed pitcher who despite the injury was selected in the 28th round of the 2014 M.L.B. draft by the Red Sox, but chose not to sign. “It kind of killed my chances to have a real good opportunity to go into professional baseball out of high school. It kind of made my decision for me, that I was going to go to Oregon and get a couple years of college. In the grand scheme of things, looking back, it was one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.

“I wouldn’t trade my three years that I had at Oregon for anything. Wouldn’t be sitting here today, probably, if I didn’t do it.”

Here, of course, is the Mets’ rotation.

Peterson’s record-setting career at the University of Oregon led to the Mets’ taking him with the 20th overall pick in the 2017 draft. He was in the majors by 2020, making 25 appearances for the Mets in his first two seasons, with mixed results and more injuries.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/sports/baseball/david-peterson-mets.html