Arizona Diamondbacks 2015 Review: David Peralta
By Thomas Lynch
An area of depth for the 2015 Arizona Diamondbacks was the outfield. Four legitimate, everyday players roamed all three spots during the season and contributed mightily to one of baseball’s best offenses. By far, the one who took the longest route to this point was David Peralta who has gone from pitcher, to independent player to borderline superstar MLB player. Let’s review his coming-of-age 2015 season.
The Good
You would like to see a nice progression from a player after his rookie season. There was progress all right from Peralta, so much so that he ended up finishing eighth in the National League in batting with a .312 average. Among the league leaders in triples as a rookie, Peralta proceeded to lead the entire league in that category this season with ten. Peralta’s other power numbers jumped with 17 home runs and 78 RBI’s after he finished with eight and 36 the prior year. Perhaps more impressively, his on-base percentage jumped over 50 points from .320 to .371.
The Bad
With such an impressive leap in his second campaign, it’s hard to find much fault with Peralta. If there is one stat he could use some improvement on, it’s strikeouts. He whiffed 107 times in 517 plate appearances. Other than that, there wasn’t much that was bad with Peralta’s season. Now, if his numbers dip in 2016, there could be more bad things to write about. 2015 should not be a career season for him.
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Final Analysis
At-bats were difficult to come by for Peralta, particularly in the first half of the season. The outfield was crowded all year long even after Mark Trumbo was dealt at the beginning of June. Credit manager Chip Hale for mixing his players well and to Peralta for producing, whether it was in a starting role or a pinch-hitting role. Once the weather started to get hot, so did Peralta. He hit .347 over the final three months of the season. Barring a trade, the D-backs’ outfield will look a lot like 2015. In other words, the Arizona Diamondbacks should expect similar numbers from David Peralta next year.
Next: Arizona Diamondbacks: Phil Nevin is a Hot Managerial Candidate