Game Two of the 2025 National League Championship Series would be the last time Milwaukee Brewers fans would see Freddy Peralta in a yellow and blue uniform.

That game resulted in a crucial 5–1 loss, where Peralta, who allowed three earned runs, battled it out for 5 2/3 innings against a formidable Los Angeles Dodgers team steamrolling their way through the series.

Peralta made a name for himself in Wisconsin, spending eight seasons and making his MLB debut in 2018.

Almost immediately, the baseball world witnessed his potential as he attacked the strike zone ferociously against the Colorado Rockies, ending his debut outing with 13 strikeouts, the most strikeouts by any rookie at the time since Stephen Strasburg.

As time grew on, so did Peralta’s confidence, allowing him to be one of the focal points in a Brewers rotation that was increasingly getting better with each passing season.

With last season’s defeat, fans expected Peralta and the team to regroup and make another push. The surprising 2025–26 MLB offseason would have other plans, as Peralta would be traded to the New York Mets in exchange for a pair of Mets prospects in Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams.

This trade dealt a big blow to an organization that has built itself on consistent, well-rounded play, culminating in a regular-season best and franchise-record 97 wins.

Manager Pat Murphy will now turn to veteran right-hander Brandon Woodruff to anchor the rotation. However, with one Peralta gone, Milwaukee has another Peralta, Sammy Peralta, who has the ability to prove that he can provide valuable innings and outs for the team down the stretch next season.

With a career ERA of 5.12 and an ERA of 7.59 in 2025, only pitching in five games, the numbers may not look great, but with some refinement to his pitching arsenal, he may have a chance to survive.

According to Baseball Savant, Peralta’s most utilized pitch is his slider. He threw 74 sliders last season, clocking in at 80.9 miles per hour, followed by his sinker and changeup, throwing 51 sinkers and 16 changeups, respectively, staying in the low 80s.

Rounding out his pitching mix is Peralta’s four-seamer and sweeper, which he threw 11 times, and he only had a single sweeper last season.

His slider has a lot of break, resulting in his highest and best strikeout percentage. He generally places his pitches well in the strike zone, not leaving many in the middle.

Pitching coach Chris Hook could help Peralta by finding a way to improve his fastball usage and changeup, whether that be reconfiguring his grip or finding a better way to locate it in the zone.

As all good big-league pitchers do, having a deceptive fastball in order to get key outs is essential. Pitch tunneling and having a different approach to the psychological aspect of being on the mound, along with having a strong sequence, will only make Peralta better and last longer.

Finding a way to work around aggressive hitters will definitely be important, especially when it comes to reducing hard contact.

With such a limited number of big-league games under his belt to truly evaluate what he is made of, the best course of action for Murphy and his staff to help Peralta may be to allow him to pitch in games where the Brewers already have a commanding lead.

The bottom line is that Sammy Peralta will not be an overnight success. He will be a work in progress for the foreseeable future until he has proven otherwise. There are a couple of bright spots that give him hope to be better than what he has been. For Peralta, with hard work and patience, the best may be yet to come.

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