Hello, My Name Is David Peralta

How this works

Every other day, from now through to Christmas, we'll open up discussion on a particular player who made a meaningful contribution to the 2014 Diamondbacks. [I've drawn the line at 125 PA or 20 innings] There will be two sections. Firstly, a poll where you rate them from 5 ("Highly satisfied") down to 1 ("Very dissatisfied"): it's entirely up to you what criteria you use for the number. Secondly, the comments below, where you can talk about the reasons for your vote, etc. Things to discuss include, but are not limited to:

• Pre-season expectations
  
• 2014 performance: strengths and weaknesses, etc.
  
• Health and other mitigating factors
• How they'll help the team in 2015, their role, etc.

Three days down the line, we'll collate the votes, calculate a final average score, and write up the consensus of SnakePit thought into an appraisal. Here is a quick overview of today's candidate for your consideration.

Additional bonus! Going forward. we'll also have a "Comment of the Thread" for the appraisal, so please rec the comments you find insightful, funny, or whatever.

David Peralta - OF

• DOB: 08/14/1987
• 2014 Salary: $480,000 (if he had been up the whole year)
• 2014 Performance: 88 games, 348 PA, .286 BA, .320 OBP, .450 SLG, 110 wRC+, 8 HR
• 2014 Value: bWAR 1.7, fWAR 1.2

The Diamondbacks started 2014 thinking their outfield would be some combination of Mark Trumbo, AJ Pollock, and Gerardo Parra. Injuries to the first two caused the franchise to dig deep to fill the gaps, which included a call-up for David Peralta. He never ranked highly on prospect lists (largely because he first was signed by the Cardinals as a pitcher, then converted to an outfielder and played in independent ball last year), so to call him a surprise to nearly everyone is probably an accurate statement.

His first month in the bigs saw him hit .322 with 3 homers and a wRC+ of 123. As the season wore on he slowed down a bit, but not by much. He showed himself to hit for average with occasional power. He didn't steal as much as he probably could (stealing safely 6 out of 9 attempts), but he hit in the 3 hole for a third of his plate appearances so he wasn't in a spot to showcase it.

Peralta was an above average defender as well, having a UZR/150 of 17.4, which would have been good enough to rank 11th for major league outfielders. Defensive stats are silly, so I'm not going to keep going, but he was a fun fielder to watch.

It's hard to say Peralta's contributions to the 2014 campaign were anything but a positive. He was cheap, he was unexpected, he hit, he fielded, he was fun to watch play. What more do you want?

What do you think? How does David Peralta in 2014 rate for you? Sound off in the comments below.

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