DJ Peterson: One for the future

“And with the 12th pick of the 2013 MLB Draft, the Seattle Mariners select D.J. Peterson, third baseman.”

Or at least that’s how I imagine it happening.

Peterson has been making noise in the Mariners community after being named to the Arizona Fall League “Fall-Stars” West Division squad.

Since coming in to the Mariners organization, Peterson has hit .299/.362/.552 in ‘A’ and AA organizations, and has shown considerable power on the way toward getting those numbers. There has been some speculation as to where the Mariners would put him on the squad if they were to bring him up to the majors.

Let’s get this out of the way real quick: Peterson is not MLB ready–yet. He only has 178 games under his professional belt, and if you ask me, his batting numbers,  don’t prove MLB-ready talent. He has 158 RBIs in over 700 PA, and just as many strikeouts as he has RBIs.

He needs a little bit of work on the defensive side of the ball, it would seem, as well. He’s committed 54 errors over the past two years under a Seattle affiliate, for a fielding percent of .945.

More from Mariners News

• 2023 Steamer Projections: Teoscar Hernandez could see a drop in Seattle
• Steamer Projections: Julio Rodriguez to enter rarified air in 2023
• What if the Mariners traded FOR Tyler O’Neill this time?
• Mariners starting pitching is being overlooked by MLB
• Baking the Cake: An Adjusted Mariners Offseason Plan

Combine that with the fact that he has yet to play for a AAA squad, and Peterson starts to look a lot more like a “couple years down the road” prospect. And besides, the Mariners already have a third baseman — All-Star, Gold Glove, batting god (my opinion) Kyle Seager. While it would be nice for the M’s to have a good replacement if Seager pulls a Michael Saunders (getting injured), Seager’s track record over the last couple of years have shown that he knows how to play a full season.

However, Peterson has played some first base over the past couple years, and that is a position that has been somewhat contested over the past couple of years. Now that Justin Smoak is gone to the Toronto Blue Jays, that leaves Logan Morrison as our current starting first baseman, which I am not complaining about at all.

LoMo is eligible for arbitration in 2015, and becomes a free agent in 2017. It would be nice to have a solid first base slot, assuming that the M’s decide to keep Seager, who is only 26, around.

DJ Peterson is indeed a player to keep an eye on, but for now, the Mariners need to hold off on bringing up a player that isn’t quite ready for the big stage yet, and let him develop in to the star that he most certainly could become.