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- Date of Birth: August 14th, 1987
- 2017 Line: 140 games, .293/.352/.444 .796 OPS 14 HR 57 RBI
- 2017 Value: 2.5 bWAR
- 2017 Salary: $572,200
- 2017 SnakePit Rating: 7.62
2017 Analysis
David Peralta had a rough season in 2016, seeing three different stints on the DL and only playing in 48 games total. This was coming off of a breakout campaign in 2015 in which he was worth a very respectable 3.7 bWAR, so needless to say expectations were high. However, expectations coming into 2017 seemed to be greatly tempered because of his down season last year. Peralta rebounded nicely, and more importantly, he stayed healthy for the vast majority of the season, which was high on the wish list this year.
In 140 games, Peralta was able to hit nearly .300 and get on base at a decent clip which gave the heavy hitters in the middle of the lineup ample RBI opportunities. This was clearly evident by his career high in runs with 82. Although his power numbers were not quite as good as they were in 2015, Peralta was almost back to full strength and gave the Dbacks a much needed left-handed, quality bat. His K% and BB% are not that much different than what he had in 2015, which certainly bodes well going forward because it means that 2015 was not just a fluke.
The one knock that some people might have with Peralta is that his defense can be suspect at times, and excellent at others. And while this remained true this year, with some interesting fails and terrific plays, he mostly stayed steady and provided at least replacement level defense (0.0 dWAR – bbREF). What is really funny about his production in 2017 is that he actually was more valuable per dollar than he was in 2015! His contract that year must have still been based off his signing out of the Independent League, seeing as he made just over $1.0 Million that year. But in 2017, he was pre-arb and made nearly half of that amount. And $228,880/1.0bWAR is definitely one of the better values around.
2018 Prospects
The Freight Train is set to become arbitration eligible this winter, and according to mlbtraderumors.com he is in line for a nice little pay increase. They think that he will be getting nearly $4.0 Million dollars in 2018, which isn’t too bad. Baseball Reference’s projections expect Peralta to produce a season almost identical to the one that he just posted. Since he is going to be in his age-30 season, I think that would be a fair expectation with a decent chance of doing better, but probably a greater chance of regression. Since he is a lefty and has decent power, he will likely be a pretty consistent player in 2018. Look for David to have a good year in 2018, and to remain the emotional leader of this team. Now, only if he could be the first one to give high fives.