Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on OF Dustin Peterson

Scouting Report

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Size/Build

Peterson looks the part of a big time hitter and athlete at 6’2″ and 210 pounds. He carries the weight well at the plate with no over-build anywhere or “bad weight” either.

Hitting

Contact (50) – Many see Peterson’s long swing and assume that he has contact issues, but unlike a lot of guys with a “long” swing, Peterson’s length comes more in the back end of his swing and less in the front end.

He gets to the plate quickly and has quick hands to the ball, but he does have some length after the swing, which means that he will often end up with the ball on the ground or hit without a ton of force in the air due to his bat path.

He does make very solid contact and gets bat to ball, however, which is where some of the lower contact ratings do confuse me as the number is supposed to rate his ability to put the ball into play. He does this fairly well, but the quality of that ball in play is where I leave the grade as a 50 rather than higher.

Power (55) – Peterson’s power was eaten up plenty in the park in Mississippi, but he certainly has some excellent gap power, as indicated by his 38 doubles, which were no fluke of the park.

As mentioned in the contact section, his bat path is less than ideal, so he doesn’t get great loft on the ball, with his bat path typically being best suited for line drives and short fly balls rather than deep home runs.

Peterson likely is not a guy who will be a consistent 30 home run guy without some swing changes, but I could see him having a single season where he tops that number, but probably he’d settle more into a 15-20 home run annually sort of guy.

Eye (50) – While Peterson may not walk an incredible amount, he does have a solid strike zone knowledge as evidenced by his strike zone rate being sub-20% through most of his minor league career. He is able to consistently put bat to ball, exhibiting his good recognition and hand/eye as well.

Base Running/Fielding

Speed (45) – While he may not rate with tremendous first to home speed or 60 yard times, Peterson is a very solid athlete. He takes a few steps to get going, but once he is going, he has very solid speed overall.

One thing to note is while he won’t probably ever steal 30 bases, Peterson has high instincts and gets a good jump before he ever takes off, so when you see his stolen base attempts, those are all times when he had a very good read or he was part of a hit-and-run.

Defense (55) – Due to that less-than-great first step quickness, Peterson has worked very hard on reading balls in the outfield to get solid jumps on balls off the bat.

He’s shown excellent reads on balls from either corner, though it was noted that he had some adventures when injuries and call-ups led to Peterson needing to fill center for a day.

Arm (50) – In raw arm strength, Peterson is a 50, but one of the things he’s worked hard at doing in the outfield is placing his feet well behind him when making a catch to maximize his throw.

He’s shown very solid accuracy from the outfield as well. It may not seem like a ton compared to many in the system, but Peterson’s 13 outfield assists over the last two seasons with what is considered a fringe-average arm for a corner outfield spot does speak to how well he’s shown for his accuracy and footwork in the outfield.

MLB Player Comp

I’ve been saying this for multiple years on Peterson that I saw his MLB comp being Alex Gordon. Gordon is nowhere near an elite athlete in the outfield, but he uses excellent reads off the ball to be one of the best defenders in left field in the league.

Offensively, there are plenty of similarities as well. While Gordon had plenty of prospect hype coming up through the Royals system as a future 30/30 hitter that was going to be an offensive force for years to come from the hot corner, he’s settled into a guy who hits .255-.280 with solid doubles power and 15ish home runs annually.

Gordon is also more athlete than he is pure runner at the pro level as well, which is where his instincts in the outfield have come into play, something that Peterson has shown strides on ever since moving to the outfield.

Next: Braves Minor League Database

Peterson will make a good argument for AAA Gwinnett in 2017, though that’s becoming a very loaded outfield at this point going into the spring. He very well could see the major leagues at some point in 2017, but I do think his first opportunity to impact the Braves lineup will be in 2018.