Michael Petersen was one of the Minor Leaguers called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers amid a series of transactions due to injuries and an overworked bullpen.
Petersen signed a Minor League contract with the Dodgers during the offseason and has enjoyed an excellent year with Triple-A Oklahoma City. In 23 appearances, he pitched to the tune of a 1.61 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, and .128 batting average against.
The most impressive aspect of his performance has been his 31 strikeouts this season, which translates to a remarkable 36.9% strikeout percentage.
A 17th-round pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2015 MLB Draft, Petersen had spent his entire career in the Minors and never been called up to the Major League level before this season.
Despite the long journey it took to get to this point, Petersen never doubted himself for a second and is now enjoying the moment, according to Dennis Georgatos of the Southern California News Group:
“It’s amazing. It’s been a long road and it’s been tough but I never really doubted that this day would happen,” Petersen said ahead of Monday night’s game in Colorado. “Now that it actually is, I keep catching myself, doing like, ‘Wow, this is a pretty big moment.’”
Despite being a non-roster invitee in Spring Training, Petersen didn’t expect to make the Dodgers roster out of camp. However, that was never really his goal coming into this season:
“I didn’t come in here with any intentions on making the team out of spring,” Petersen said. “I was just like, let’s start strong, have a good season, see what happens and hit the ground running in Oklahoma City.”
There aren’t many more difficult landings for a pitcher making their MLB debut as his first test than the extremely hostile pitching environment that is Coors Field. However, the right-hander did just that and wound up earning a win thanks to the Dodgers’ rally.
Petersen’s ability to put batters away at a high rate gives him a good chance to be successful in the series if it can translate to the next level.
Michael Petersen’s MLB audition
To keen viewers of Major League Baseball, Petersen’s name might seem familiar at that is because of his participation in 2023’s World Baseball Classic for Team Great Britain. His only appearance of the tournament was one inning pitched against Team USA, but it was an impressive showing against MLB-level talent.
Petersen’s fastball consistently registered 100 mph on the radar gun and topped out at 101. He retired Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Trea Turner to work a scoreless inning with a walk and a stakeout.
