Freddy Peralta Is Taking a Page Out of Blake Snell’s Playbook

I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that Freddy Peralta is on the most team-friendly contract in Major League Baseball.

For years, Peralta has been the lone constant in an ever-changing Milwaukee Brewers rotation. Since 2021, Peralta is the only pitcher in MLB to throw 700+ innings with a batting average below .200 (.198). That’s better than Corbin Burnes, Zack Wheeler, and other elite arms in the game over that stretch.

And the Brewers have received that production at an exceptionally cheap cost ever since Peralta signed his five-year, $15.5 million contract back in February of 2020. The deal included two club options for $8 million apiece for 2025 and 2026, which the Brewers are more than happy to exercise given his production atop their rotation.

Peralta, now in his age-29 season, is in the midst of his best season yet. He’s never received a Cy Young vote throughout his eight-year career, but that’s likely to change in 2025.

Freddy Peralta’s Fascinating 2025 Campaign

Peralta is pitching to a 2.69 ERA on the year, the sixth-lowest mark in MLB and the third-lowest in the National League. He’s surpassed 200 strikeouts in each of his last two seasons, and he needs just 15 more by the end of the year to eclipse that mark once again this season.

But Peralta, unlike some of the other elite arms around him on the ERA leaderboard, isn’t always the most stress-free pitcher.

While he is punching out over 10 hitters per nine and is in the top 20% of MLB in strikeout rate (27.5%), he also has the fourth-highest walks per nine (3.46) and walk rate (9.4%) in the National League this season.

Pitch count is often Freddy’s biggest enemy, and the walks play a huge part in that. Among all qualified pitchers, Peralta has the highest pitches per plate appearance in MLB at 4.27. He also has the fifth-lowest strike percentage in MLB at 61.2%. And yet, he’s been able to manage just fine this season.

Despite those suspect walk numbers, Peralta still has the sixth-lowest WHIP in the NL at 1.09 thanks to an impressive opponent batting average of .192. That is the third-lowest mark in the NL and the fourth-lowest in all of MLB.

Some might scoff at opponent batting average, but there’s extreme importance in that number being as low as it is for a pitcher of Peralta’s profile. For a pitcher with such high walk rates, average can sometimes be the difference between an ERA in the mid 3.00s and an ERA in the mid 2.00s.

While there may exceptions to that philosophy, it has certainly been the case for Peralta over the past handful of seasons.

Peralta’s walk rate this year isn’t all that different from previous seasons, but his run prevention is substantially improved.

Just compare Peralta’s previous two campaigns. He has nearly identical walk rates and punchout numbers this season when compared to 2024, but his ERA is almost a full run lower in 2025.

What’s behind that improvement? His 29 point drop in opponent average is a major part of the story, as is his improved home run prevention.

This year, he’s allowing fewer than one home run per nine innings, while last year that mark sat at 1.35. That was tied for the sixth-highest HR/9 in the NL, while this year his mark is one of the lowest in the NL.

It’s no coincidence that his two highest ERA seasons (2023, 2024) since 2021 coincided with his highest HR/9 and highest opponent batting average over that stretch.

Peralta has always allowed free passes at one of the highest rates in baseball; it’s often been the thing that has held him back from joining the next echelon of starters.

But in 2025, he’s made the necessary improvements to see better results while still sticking true to what makes him such a great pitcher. He’s accepted the free passes as a part of his game, but he’s focused on making the right pitch in the right moment to minimize the overall damage done against him.

Taking a Page out of Blake Snell’s Playbook

Admittedly, this way of pitching can be very dividing in the baseball community. Peralta’s approach on the mound greatly resembles that of the Blake Snell, specifically during his polarizing 2023 Cy Young campaign.

Back in 2023, Snell won the Cy Young Award with the San Diego Padres while walking nearly five hitters per nine innings and sporting a walk rate of 13.3%, both of which were the highest marks among qualified pitchers that year.

And yet, he paced MLB in ERA at a dazzling mark of 2.25 despite all of those free passes. How did he manage that? He had an opponent batting average of just .180, the lowest mark in the league, and he had a HR/9 of just 0.75, tied for the third-lowest mark in the league.

Where did Snell rank in the aforementioned pitches per plate appearances and strike percentage categories that season? He had the most P/PA (4.25) and the second-lowest strike rate (58.4%), which are quite similar to Freddy’s marks and standing among the league this season.

Point being, Snell didn’t mind the walks because he mastered the art of run prevention by relying on his wicked punchout material and minimizing the big hits when it mattered most. For those who have watched Peralta pitch this year, it’s felt like a very similar story.

Back in 2023, Snell had an opponent batting average of just .174 when runners were on base. That was the best mark in MLB and 34 points better than the next-best pitcher (Gerrit Cole, .208).

This season, Peralta is sporting an opponent batting average of .182 when runners are on base. That is the second-best mark in MLB only behind Wheeler.

Let’s take it one level deeper. In 2023, Snell had an opponent batting average of .147 when runners were in scoring position. In 2025, Peralta has an OBA of .143 with RISP, the best mark in baseball by 12 points.

To further drive the point home, with RISP and two outs, Peralta has an opponent batting average of a measly .105. The next closest player (min. 50 batters faced) is Charlie Morton at .133.

Point being, the ability to get out of a jam and pitch through traffic is often what separates the good pitchers from the great pitchers. Of course, less traffic on the basepaths is ideal. However, the strides Freddy has made this season in that department have been glaring, and, frankly, essential to him taking that leap as a true ace.

Pitching When it Matters Most

Most Brewers fans would agree that Peralta often walks a tightrope in most of his outings. But he deserves credit for his ability to pitch out of trouble and keep runners from crossing home plate at one of the highest rates this season.

Peralta has a left-on-base percentage of 84.7% this season, which is the single-highest mark in the National League and is the second-highest in MLB only behind Jacob deGrom. Moreover, his BABIP, or batting average on balls in play, of .244 is the second-lowest in the NL and the fifth-lowest in MLB.

Typically when a pitcher has that low of a BABIP, that high of a LOB%, and peripheral ERA estimators that are over a run higher than his actual ERA, one might think his success is simply due to fortunate batted ball luck.

While there is sometimes an element of luck that plays into each of those categories, I think there is real intent and focus about how Peralta navigates at-bats in crucial moments that better explains those numbers.

Overall, Peralta is sporting a hard-hit rate of 32.9% that is in the 94th percentile (his lowest since 2022) and a whiff rate of 29.4% that is in the 77th percentile. Those marks are impressive, but they don’t tell the whole story.

With no runners on base this season, Peralta’s hard-hit rate is 35.6%, he is sporting a barrel rate of 9.8%, and he generates whiff 28.8% of the time.

With runners on base, however, his hard-hit rate drops to 27.1%, his barrel rate is cut to 5.7%, and his whiff rate jumps to 30.5%. Furthermore, with runners in scoring position, his hard-hit rate drops even further to 23.3%, and his whiff rate climbs to 32.6%.

When the screws tighten on Peralta and there is more pressure on each individual pitch, he’s missing bats at a higher rate and reducing the amount of hard contact against him. Overall, it feels as if he’s picking and choosing his spots to attack hitters, both in terms of how he navigates a lineup and how he maneuvers an at-bat.

He appears to be much more thoughtful about his sequencing and pitch decisions when compared to previous seasons, and it has taken his game to the next level in 2025.

Final Thoughts

Peralta recently completed a stretch of five straight starts where he did not allow a run. In those five outings (28 IP), his walk rate was 11.4% and he had a strike rate of 61.7%. His opponent batting average in those five starts, though, was an insane .098. Despite walking nearly four hitters per nine through a tremendous stretch of run prevention, he managed to stay on track by simply limiting the big hits against him.

Often times when a pitcher experiences a breakout season or a career year, it can often be attributed to a few different things, including perhaps a new pitch, an increase in strike rate, or elevated punchout material, among various other factors.

But with Peralta, this year has felt like a result of his maturation as a pitcher more than anything.

Sure, his pitch mix fluctuates from year to year, or even from start to start. But overall there’s a lot of aspects of Peralta’s profile that haven’t changed from previous seasons, except for his ability to pitch in the game’s most important moments. And that’s what has made his 2025 season so special to watch.

Peralta is such a fun example of why baseball is such a fascinating sport. Not all ERAs are created equally, and his 2025 campaign is an example of how pitchers can find extreme success in so many different ways.