MLB analyst calls $15.5M Brewers ace "1 of the hidden secrets" in NL Central division

The Milwaukee Brewers have surprised the baseball sphere by surging to the top of the MLB standings. Milwaukee is head and shoulders above its competition with a 79-45 record.

A key to the team's success has been its pitching. Milwaukee holds the second-best ERA in the majors at 3.56 and is tied for the second-best batting average against at .229. Central to this surprising surge is ace Freddy Peralta.

Peralta, who signed a five-year, $15.5 million extension in 2020, earned his second All-Star selection after a brilliant first half of the season. In an interview with MLB Network Radio, analyst Eduardo Perez lauded Peralta's efforts as the anchor of the Brewers' rotation.

"Peralta to me is one of the 'hidden secrets' of the [NL] Central," said Perez. (0:44)

The analyst further suggested that it was Peralta's health and consistency on the mound that led him to be the winningest pitcher in the league so far with 15 victories.

"He goes in with a sweeper and a fastball. He is deceptive [and] throws across his body pretty well. You can tell that he's 100% healthy. This is a guy that was able to see Corbin Burnes make himself into a pitcher. [He's] not a big guy on the mound either, but he does pitch like a big guy. He gets a lot of chases out of the zone and gets a lot of soft contact."

Peralta has been a revelation this year, tallying a 2.78 ERA with 154 strikeouts while leading the league in both wins and games started.

Brewers shut out Cubs in series opener

After the Cubs held the lead in the NL Central for the majority of the season, the Brewers surged out of nowhere and nabbed the top spot in the second half of the campaign.

Milwaukee decimated the Cubs on the road with a 7-0 win in Monday's series-opener of a five-game series between the two sides.

Freddy Peralta was at his best, as he pitched six innings of one-hit ball with three walks and six punch-outs. Along with the run support by the batting order, the visitors trounced their biggest opponent in the divisional race. The dominant performance gave Peralta his MLB-leading 15th win of the year, while the Brewers are just one win away from being the first team this year to reach 80 regular-season victories.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

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Edited by Daniel Santiago