I wrote about Freddy Peralta over strikeouts in his last start and he came through for us vs Pitt, and I love him to do it again. Tonight, he faces off vs the Reds who have struck out the 5th most in the league.
Freddie is one of the league’s best strikeout guys. He averages 1.34 K per inning for his career.. Last season, he averaged witnessed a slight uptick to 1.35 K per inning while blowing away his career high in innings pitched. He got knocked around a bit in his first few starts, but delivered a gem last outing with 6 scoreless innings and 7 strikeouts. Perhaps the most encouraging thing about that start was the 0 walks he issued. Control is often the thing that stands in the way of him dominating every start. I am excited to see if he can build off of that tonight.
As I mentioned before, the Reds are 5th in the league in strikeouts per game. They are also 4th in K% vs right handed pitching as well. They also draw the 4th fewest walks in the league. While it is not a massive sample size in 40 plate appearances vs Freddy, current Reds batters have struck out 15 times (37.5%). This is a dream matchup for Freddy, and a spot I think he can climb the ladder for us.
