Arizona Diamondbacks’ David Peralta just fine being ‘fourth’ outfielder
Jun 4, 2015, 4:13 PM | Updated: 4:13 pm
When the Arizona Diamondbacks swung a trade with the Seattle Mariners Wednesday, a few things were accomplished.
They acquired much-needed catching help in Welington Castillo. They shed some salary.
And, probably most importantly, they created an opportunity in the outfield by shipping Mark Trumbo to the American League. That allows rookie Yasmany Tomas to move to the outfield and frees up third base for Jake Lamb, who is close to returning from an injury.
It also allows for Arizona manager Chip Hale to continue using David Peralta as the fourth outfielder as opposed to possibly being sent down to Triple-A Reno.
The 27-year-old is just fine with that role.
“You know what, we’re all getting at-bats,” Peralta told Burns and Gambo Thursday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “We’re getting the same amounts of games and it’s good. I’m really happy about that.
“All four outfielders are getting at-bats. It’s like I always say, we don’t have a backup outfielder. We have four outfielders and we play every day and rotate every day.”
The numbers bear that out. Ender Inciarte, A.J. Pollock and Trumbo each had 174 at-bats. But Peralta had 125.
Prior to the move, Peralta said he never worried about when he was going to get a chance to play.
“That’s not my job,” he said.
“I will control whatever I can control. I’m just going to focus on being a good player and doing the little things to make the lineup the next day. So whatever decision they make, there’s nothing I can do.”
The rotation method seems to be working. Peralta is batting .264 (33-for-125) with five home runs and 26 RBI, which is second on the team to Paul Goldschmidt’s 44.
Peralta, who was formerly a pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, is just happy to be contributing.
“For me, every day is a special day to be here in the big leagues,” he said. “Every day is the best day of my life in the big leagues.”
