ANAHEIM -- The Rockies bolstered their left-handed relief prospect profile in a trade with the Pirates on Monday, acquiring Luis Peralta, a southpaw who has improved his strike-zone performance and had success at two levels this season.
Colorado gave up veteran lefty Jalen Beeks, who served the club in multiple roles while going 6-4 with a 4.74 ERA and nine saves in 45 appearances. Especially attractive to other teams was his holding left-handed hitters to a .182 batting average.
While the Pirates load up for what they hope is a run to the playoffs by grabbing Beeks, a free agent at season’s end, the Rockies receive the promising Peralta -- not yet on the Major League 40-man roster, though the 23-year-old could be in line for a debut this year.
TRADE DETAILS
Colorado receives: LHP Luis Peralta
Pittsburgh receives: LHP Jalen Beeks
Peralta, listed at 5-11 and 170 pounds, signed with the Pirates at age 16 out of Moca, Dominican Republic, and has blossomed since being moved to relief this season. He makes his living with the fastball and has the makings of an above-average Major League slider -- a pitch that misses bats now but will be even more effective when he shows he can land it in the strike zone.
The younger brother of Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta, Luis has been ranked upon his acquisition as the Rockies' No. 30 prospect per MLB Pipeline.
Peralta is 4-0 with a 0.91 ERA in 26 games covering 39 2/3 innings at High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona, where he debuted in late June. Always a strikeout threat with a fastball at the top of the zone, Peralta is displaying improving control, as evidenced by his 64 strikeouts against 18 walks this season. In 2022 he logged 97 strikeouts and 44 walks in 60 1/3 innings, following that up a season later with 67 strikeouts and 35 walks in 52 2/3 innings. Both of those seasons were spent at Class A Bradenton while starting and relieving.
"He had a couple years in the Dominican Summer League, and he was another kid who got caught up in COVID [no Minor League ball in 2020], and then he went to Class A as a starter,” Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt said. “Then he’s at High-A and Double-A this year in terms of the move to the bullpen, and his strikes are a little better.
"He was striking out 40% of the hitters he faced," added Schmidt. "He sits at 94 mph and can go up and get 96, and there’s the slider. We thought the upside was pretty good for him.”
With his bullpen breakout at Greensboro -- 0.60 ERA, 50 strikeouts and 15 walks in 30 innings -- Peralta began making a name for himself in the Pirates' system, which was not easy considering that team’s stockpile of prospects.
“We think he can move fairly quickly if he continues to do what he’s done this year,” Schmidt said. “We just look at it as we added a good, quality arm. We’re looking for quality, but the fact he’s left-handed is good -- you can never have too many.
"Jalen did an outstanding job for us in the short time he was here," said Schmidt of Beeks' tenure in Colorado. "With him being a free agent, we looked at it as an opportunity to add another arm to the system.”