Freddy Peralta, Marcus Semien have more in common than NY Mets fans want to admit

Here’s a hard-to-swallow pill for some New York Mets fans: Freddy Peralta and Marcus Semien are actually playing exactly as we should have expected.

New York’s president of baseball operations, David Stearns, acquired both players via high-profile trades during the offseason. He sent Mets top prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams to the Milwaukee Brewers for Peralta, a top-of-the-line starter that could anchor the Mets’ rotation. And he sent outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers for Semien, an aging second baseman who still had something to offer a team, even if his best offensive years were behind him.

For much of the start of the season, many have bashed Stearns for making both of the moves. Peralta isn’t the kind of “ace” that Mets fans are used to: the Doc Goodens, Matt Harveys and Jacob deGroms of the world. Semien’s performance was frequently compared to Nimmo’s early on as the Mets’ former outfielder got off to a hot start in Texas while Semien struggled at the plate.

But as much as some fans might not like to admit it, Peralta and Semien have been the exact kinds of players they are on paper. Here’s why that’s the case:

Freddy Peralta is no Jacob deGrom, but he is a great starting pitcher

One of the big things that differentiates Peralta from a prototypical “ace” pitcher in MLB is his consistent struggle to work deep into games. Over the last three years, Peralta’s average innings pitched per start has been steadily declining. In 2023, he averaged 5 ½ innings per start in 30 starts. In 2024, he averaged 5 ⅖ innings in 32 starts. Last year, Peralta averaged 5 ⅓ innings in 33 starts.

So unlike a deGrom, or a Zack Wheeler, or a Chris Sale, Peralta has never broached the 200-inning mark in a season. The closest he came was 176.2 innings in 33 starts.

As Mets fans have likely noticed this year – a year in which Peralta is averaging more than 5 ½ innings per start through 14 starts, for the record – part of the righty’s issues going deep into games is his command. Peralta, dating back to his time with the Brewers, has tended to walk a few batters in every game. Where deGrom averaged fewer than two walks per nine innings in his Cy Young years, Peralta has tended to be closer to a 3.5 BB/9 mark.

What has hurt Peralta a bit this year is that walk rate, which prevents him going deep into games consistently, yes, but it’s also a slightly lower fastball velocity. A year after his fastball averaged 94.8 mph with Milwaukee, “Freddy Fastballs” has seen his average velo dip to 93.8 mph. His extension – the point from the mound where Peralta releases his pitches – has also shrunk. The result? Fewer swings-and-misses, more balls in play and a higher hard-hit rate allowed.

But Peralta has still been finding ways to succeed. Outside of his blow-up, six-runs-allowed outing against the Cardinals, he has a 3.63 ERA – better than his final numbers in 2023 (3.86) and 2024 (3.68). Peralta’s allowing fewer home runs per nine than he did in each of those years as well, and seeing a higher rate of ground balls. Those factors are contributing to some ERA success as well as, potentially, some longer outings on average.

Peralta has been among the Mets’ most consistent starters at the top of their rotation. Nolan McLean has faced struggles, David Peterson and Sean Manaea have been demoted to the bullpen, and Kodai Senga was having a rough go before he landed on the IL.

Marcus Semien is returning to form as the player we expected

Entering his age-35 season, there were already some signs of decline in the Mets’ new second baseman. In his last two years with Texas, Semien’s slugging percentage dipped from the heights it had reached in years he was an MVP finalist. His .478 mark with 29 home runs in 2023 sank to .391 with 23 long balls in 2024, then to .364 with 15 round-trippers last year.

What hadn’t declined nearly as much was Semien’s fielding ability. Last year, Statcast had the then-Rangers’ second baseman in the 82nd percentile in fielding value with a range that was in the 92nd percentile. Semien also won his second Gold Glove in 2025.

So when the Mets acquired him in a trade, it was clear they were doing so to 1) take on a shorter-term contract than Nimmo’s and 2) add a second baseman they expected would contribute more with his glove than his bat.

When Semien struggled to begin the season, the only thing that really should have been surprising was his declining fielding metrics. Statcast has Semien’s fielding value down to -2, or 17th percentile so far this year, as his range (or outs above average) fell from 6 (92nd percentile) in 2025 to -3 (12th percentile).

Still, Semien didn’t make his second error of the season until June 2 against the Mariners. Baseball Reference has the second baseman among Mets leaders in “Total Fielding Runs Above Average,” behind only Luis Torrens and A.J. Ewing, notable defensive stars for New York.

And even during the veteran’s struggles at the plate, he remained one of the Mets’ best hitters with runners in scoring position. So despite his .220 average this year, Semien is fifth on the Mets in RBIs (25, one behind Mark Vientos and Carson Benge).

Over the last couple of weeks, Semien has turned a corner at the plate to look more like the player the Mets expected coming into this year. He’s slashing .241/.293/.537 in his last 15 games with an .830 OPS. He’s hit five home runs – of his eight total this year – in that stretch.

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