PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Around the time the Mets traded Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers last November, David Peterson became cognizant of the fact that only a handful of Mets had come before him. There was Edwin Díaz, the last remaining pitcher with more tenure than Peterson, but he bolted to Los Angeles in December. There was Pete Alonso, of course, but he moved on to Baltimore. That left only Jeff McNeil, who relocated to Sacramento just before Christmas.
Suddenly, David Peterson found himself as the longest-tenured Met.
“It is weird,” Peterson said. “It doesn’t feel like I’ve been here that long, but then I think about it, and it’s my 10th year with the org and my seventh in the big leagues. Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. There’s been a lot of turnover -- some we expected, some we didn’t.”
In baseball’s modern age, it is not unusual for rosters to turn over quickly, but even on that scale, this all happened at warp speed. Peterson debuted on July 28, 2020, in the early days of the pandemic season. Over the next five years and seven months, the Mets replaced every other member of their 40-man roster. A third of last year’s group moved along this offseason, including four players -- Nimmo, Díaz, Alonso and McNeil -- holding a combined 30 years and 111 days of service time with the Mets.
That left only Peterson, who debuted in a rotation featuring Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha. His first group of teammates included Yoenis Céspedes and Robinson Canó.
“More surprising than being the longest-tenured Met is I’m the last org product that debuted in the Wilpon era,” Peterson said, referring to Steve Cohen’s purchase of the team, which didn’t become official until Nov. 2020. “Everyone else came in the Cohen era.”
When he arrived in the big leagues, Peterson was a first-round Draft pick offering plenty of intrigue but little consistency; the left-hander thrived during the pandemic season but struggled the next, putting up a 5.54 ERA before missing the entire second half due to injury. He spent a chunk of the next two years in the Minors while battling a hip problem that would eventually require surgery.
Since returning in May 2024, Peterson has been mostly on an upward trajectory. His career year in 2024 included a 2.90 ERA over 21 starts, plus yeoman’s work as both a starter and reliever in the playoffs. The following season, Peterson carried a sub-3.00 ERA into August before fading down the stretch. Looking back, he said, he grew fatigued while reaching 168 2/3 innings -- by far the highest total of his career.
“I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t tired,” Peterson said. “I was in a spot where I hadn’t been in the big leagues. It’s not an excuse. You have to play, and we did not do our job. But having that experience and knowing what it felt like and knowing that I wasn’t pitching at the level that I know I can, how do I now change that to not let it happen again?”
Such accrued wisdom will benefit more than just him. Over the past year or so, Peterson has grown in another way, becoming vocal in team meetings. On any given morning, he can be found traversing the clubhouse, chatting up teammates. Last week, Peterson spent a live BP session talking through endurance strategies with rookie Nolan McLean. That same day, he and incoming free agent Freddy Peralta sat down to discuss how they might best be able to achieve camaraderie within the rotation.
“He’s been here for so long that it comes natural,” said Tylor Megill, the second-longest-tenured Mets pitcher. “He knows how the operation goes specifically in this org. [Last year] was probably the first that I’ve seen him really speak his voice in ways about certain team aspects, situations and what not, having a voice in the locker room. That just comes with time, being comfortable.”
With service time also inevitably comes a crossroads. After this season, Peterson can become a free agent for the first time in his career, perhaps taking all his experience and institutional knowledge elsewhere. Or perhaps sticking around and continuing to pay it forward.
“My first [four] years, I played with [multiple] Cy Youngs,” Peterson said, referring to deGrom, Porcello, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. “I had veteran guys to learn from. I had guys to steer me on the right path, guys to watch and learn from how they led and how they went about their business. For a lot of the new guys, I’ve been here, and if you have any questions … [it’s] however I can help.”