One Man’s Trash: Trust In Tristan?

I used to take daily walks around the hood. [Looks down at belly] Yeah, that was in a time far, far away. Anyways, during those saunters, I’d walk past this house that had a huge tree in the front yard. I’d glance at the beauty in passing, but never stopped as if admiring a painting hung on the walls of the Louvre. One day, something caught my eye, and I did plant my feet like one of those plastic green army men. An avocado tree. Visions of planting as many as I could in my yard began flickering in my brain. Then I began channeling my inner Floyd Mayweather, flinging benjamins to the world. Chiptotle, here I come! And this memory was instantly brought up from the recesses of my mind when I saw what Tristan Peters did recently – 3-for-3 with a home run, two runs, three and two walks.

Tristan Peters first blipped on my radar way back in March because I needed a player that was breathing in a very deep 32-team league. I never thought much of him, but he produced fantasy goodies in six consecutive games. They weren’t much, but they were something, and in that league, something is gold. And the little something something continued with a few sparks of upside. But when digging into his Fangraphs page, things were not impressive, so I never bothered to write him up.

Well, I think the time has come.

Peters was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh round of the 2021 draft. He is 26 years old, 6-feet, 180 pounds, and bats from the left side. In 2022, Peters was traded to the San Francisco Giants, then sent to the Tampa Bay Rays a few months later. Three years later, the Chicago White Sox acquired his services.

During his minor league career, the walk rate was over 10% while the strikeout rate was in the teens. The ISO was decent in the .150 range. Peters hit double-digit home runs in two seasons, both with the Rays, and stole over 10 bases three times.

Through 396 plate appearances this season, Peters racked up 11 home runs, 51 runs, 50 RBI and seven stolen bases. The walk rate is 7.8%, strikeout rate is 18.2%, and the ISO is .184. The slash is .277/.342/.460 with a .310 BABIP.

The Statcast numbers are meh, though, and that’s primarily what kept me from writing him up in the past. The average exit velocity is 87.2 mph, and the hard hit rate is 31.9% with a 5.9% barrel rate and 69.7 mph bat speed. The launch angle is 17.4 degrees, though, and he is pulling the ball 54.5% of the time.

Against right-handed pitching, Tristan Peters is slashing .297/.357/.505 with a .208 ISO and 141 wRC+. All 11 home runs have come off a righty. That ain’t bad, yo.

Now, he bats towards the bottom of the lineup and will sit against lefties. But when he’s out there, he more often than not produces fantasy goodies. In 78 of the 127 games (61.42%) played, Peters has produced something for fantasy. He has 29 games (22.93%) with 10+ DraftKings points, six games (4.72%) with 20+ and three games (2.36%) with 30+, so there is a smidge of upside.

Peters is not someone to insert into the lineup on a daily basis, but is a decent stream candidate and is at least on the strong side of the platoon.