New York Mets' Freddy Peralta pitches during the second inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in New York. AP So far, it’s been three starts, three different stories for Freddy Peralta as a Met.
He flashed his swing-and-miss dominance on Opening Day against the Pirates, but a couple costly location errors granted home runs. The offense was left having to bail him out.
We saw more controlled at-bats against the Cardinals: strong changeup usage, a potent fastball and only one earned run.
His last go against Arizona was the most frustrating. He couldn’t finish hitters and threw 101 pitches for only 14 outs.
So, which Peralta will we see against the Athletics on Sunday afternoon?
His 4.80 ERA speaks more to command control under pressure than strikeout ability. According to Statcast, Peralta is eliciting whiffs and ground balls at an above average rate and projects a 2.69 xERA.
The A’s hold the third-highest strikeout clip in MLB per FanGraphs.
The Mets’ bats have been just as hit-or-miss as Peralta. Losing Juan Soto for a couple of weeks has exposed how fragile the lineup currently is.
Aaron Civale of the Athletics tries to pick off Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees at first base in the first inning at Yankee Stadium. Getty Images They’ll contend with Aaron Civale, whose 2.70 ERA also has more than meets the eye. He’s shown steady damage control in his two starts against the Braves and Yankees although he doesn’t deal as much raw stuff as a Peralta.
Civale has only thrown nine strikeouts through 10 innings and uses more of his sequencing and command to get by.
The Mets tagged him for seven earned runs in 4 ⅔ innings in his last start against them as a Cub two years ago.
Are the Mets overlay reliant on Soto? Yes, but this is an early season stress-test for a seasoned lineup and I expect Peralta to deliver a high-volume game as his contract-year push begins to take shape.
THE PLAY: Mets F5 moneyline (-196, FanDuel)
Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.
