Former Mariners prospect serves up first home run of MLB Opening Day 2025

It's Opening Day across Major League Baseball, and the first home run of the proceedings came courtesy of Austin Wells in the New York Yankees' tilt with the Milwaukee Brewers in the Bronx.

What does this have to do with the Seattle Mariners, you ask? Well, it was Freddy Peralta who served it up for the Brewers.

This is ancient history by now, but Peralta was once a prospect in the Mariners farm system. He landed with the Brewers by way of a trade in December of 2015 that has worked out just a bit better for Milwaukee than it did for Seattle.

A brief history of Freddy Peralta, Mariners prospect

The Mariners signed Peralta as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic back in April of 2013. He made his pro debut in the Dominican Summer League that year, pitching to a 1.46 ERA in 13 appearances as a 17-year-old.

The right-hander was never considered a can't-miss prospect, though Baseball America did elevate him from No. 24 in the system for 2015 to No. 15 for 2016. This was the book on him in the latter year:

"Peralta has more pitchability than stuff — but his stuff is pretty good too. His fastball command and changeup each took significant steps forward in 2015. He delivers his changeup with deceptive arm speed and advanced feel for a pitcher his age. He flashes the ability to spin a slider but is inconsistent with its command."

Alas, Peralta did not last much longer in Seattle's system after that. It was on December 9, 2015 that the Mariners traded him along with two other prospects to the Brewers in exchange for Adam Lind.

At the time, Lind was an established slugger coming off a 2015 season in which he posted a .820 OPS, 20 home runs and 3.6 rWAR. He was meant to elevate a Mariners offense that had finished third from the bottom of the AL in runs in 2015.

To this end, the good news is that the 2016 Mariners improved to third in the AL in scoring and upped their win total by 10 from the year before. The bad news, however, is that Lind himself posted a .717 OPS and -0.3 rWAR. He subsequently left Seattle as a free agent and ended up playing his last MLB season in 2017.

As for Peralta, he fanned 13 batters in his major league debut on May 13, 2018 and has pretty much been a mainstay among the top pitchers in MLB ever since. He began his Opening Day assignment with a 3.79 ERA and an All-Star selection to show for seven seasons with Milwaukee.

The Wells home run aside, it's interesting to consider an alternate reality where Peralta is still a Mariner and part of the best starting rotation in Major League Baseball.

Can't win 'em all, as they say. And as bright sides go, it's obviously not so bad that the Mariners have such an amazing rotation even with Peralta now long gone.