Peralta embraces leadership role

PHOENIX – Adam Jones is a veteran who set the tone in the Baltimore Orioles clubhouse. But this season, his first with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he recognizes that the D-backs are David Peralta’s team.

Jones defers to Peralta and other longtime D-backs, and the respect is mutual. Peralta is the longest tenured Diamondback, which gives him instant credibility. With Paul Goldschmidt, A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin all gone to other teams, Peralta is easily one of the most well-known D-backs in the Valley of the Sun.

Peralta was already a big voice in the clubhouse and the dugout. Now he has become an even more visible face of the club. He picks his spots, too, when it comes to congratulating walkoff heroes.

When Jones was being interviewed on television after a recent win in which Jones shined, Peralta approached with a congratulatory pie. Jones had given Peralta permission to pie him should the occasion come up, but he also told Peralta he doesn’t make a mess of anyone with more MLB service time than him.

Peralta listened. He instead offered the pie to Jones to smash in his own face, which Jones did delightfully.

“The truth is that the leadership is not just one person,” Peralta said. “Everyone has their part in making the team united. If I do my job, everyone does their job, then we’re all leaders on one team. When I have to do my part to make sure the team is unified, I will do it, and so will my teammates.”

ALL-STAR CONSIDERATION?

All Peralta has done throughout his major-league career is hit. He has a .293 career batting average — it’s .289 this season heading into June 18. His next four-hit game will tie him with Goldschmidt for most four-hit games in franchise history.

In 2018 Peralta won a Silver Slugger award after setting career highs in home runs with 30, hits with 164, runs batted in with 87 and 48 walks.

He was hitting a lofty .309 this season when he had to go on the 10-day injured list with shoulder soreness in late May. His month of June hasn’t gone as well as April and May did, but he was tied for the Diamondbacks’ team lead in batting average despite the time he’s missed.

Peralta also leads the Diamondbacks outfielders in putouts and has just one error this season, playing a quality left field.

“What can I say, he has the numbers and does all the little things to be a quality ball player,” teammate Eduardo Escobar said. “He always works hard and gives it 100 percent. For me, he deserves a chance to be there (at the All-Star Game).”

Peralta isn’t going to get into what would be his first All-Star Game on fan votes. Any Arizona player will have a hard time that way. But on a team devoid of big-name players outside of star pitcher Zack Greinke, who isn’t one to crave the spotlight, Peralta stands out as a recognizable name and personality, even if he’s not so well known outside of the Valley of the Sun.

He tries to be the first one out of the dugout to congratulate a teammate for a home run. He leads a dance in the dugout just before players hit the field for the start of the game. If you hear the train whistle at Chase Field amid the cheers for a big hit, you know it’s Peralta, who bends his elbow and pumps his arm in celebration.

Hence, his nickname, “Freight Train,” given to him by TV play by play man Steve Berthiaume for Peralta’s high-energy playing style and attitude.

“I sat down with David several weeks before spring training and just asked him if he was able to embrace that new role,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said when asked how much more leadership Peralta has taken on this season. “He assured me he was and it was something he could handle. I didn’t want to ask him to do too much that his game would suffer, because that’s a hard responsibility to take on. But he told me he was going to do that, and he has.”

Asked about being an All-Star, he chuckled at the notion.

“For me it’s just not as important as helping the team win, and we ‘re fighting for that, ” Peralta said. “It would be great, but I have bigger things to reach for.”

FROM INDEPENDENT BALL TO BIG LEAGUE BOBBLEHEADS

Peralta’s journey to the big leagues is as heartwarming as they get. He signed as a pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 as a 17-year-old in Valencia, Venezuela.

Shoulder problems sent him to a new position, outfielder, but in 2009, he was released. Out of baseball in 2010, he worked on his hitting and went to Texas to play independent league ball.

He torched the league for two seasons before getting a look from a Diamondbacks scout. Because Arizona’s minor-league rosters were full, Peralta couldn’t sign until July 2013. By the following season he’d blown through Class A and Class AA teams. Then in June of 2014, made his major-league debut.

The rest is history for the guy who in part learned to speak English — he’s nearly fluent in it now and is a U.S. citizen — by watching reruns of “Friends.”

Peralta was such a hit so quickly that in August of 2014, not three months after his arrival to the majors at 26 years old, his name adorned the back of the 20,000 “Los Dbacks” T-shirts given to fans on Hispanic Heritage Night at Chase Field.

Peralta is in the top five among National League outfielders in batting average since 2015. Later this month he will be the featured player on his second bobblehead doll since becoming a Diamondback.

On June 5, two days after coming off the 10-day injured list, Peralta singled in the winning run in the 11th inning of a 3-2 victory over the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers intentionally walked teammate Ketel Marte — also having a very good 2019 season — to get to Peralta, and he made them pay.

“That’s how we Venezuelans are. We’re always looking for the smallest thing to get us going,” Peralta said. “You have to savor the moment when you have it.”

TRADE TALK?

With the Dodgers comfortably in first place in the NL West and the D-backs playing well but looking more like a wild card contender, there has been some talk of what Arizona players would bring in the best return if traded.

The Diamondbacks would really have to drop off in the wild card race, it would seem, before making a deal, but Peralta’s name has come up. He has found a happy place in Arizona, though, for what it’s worth.

“My family and I are so happy here,” Peralta said. “The team is great to us, the fans are the best and so supportive, and I hope I am here for the rest of my career.”

Featured Image: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images Sport