2025 stats: 2.42 ERA, 3.43 xERA, 1.03 WHIP, 6.9 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 17 G, 22.1 IP

Joel Peguero threw just 315 pitches in the 2025 season — and each one was thrown hard. Really hard.

There is no offspeed with Peguero. No brakes. His average four-seam velocity clocks in at a tenth of a MPH below triple digits. His sinker, a tenth below that, and his slider zips in at five miles per hour hotter than the league average.

On the mound, he appears taller than his not-quite-six-foot frame; his hat bill lies cocked off-center, his front foot slightly in front of the other on the first base side of the rubber. His bottom half of his motion is compact and controlled while his upper-half churns and explodes towards the plate. The back leg and right arm swing around his hip with a violent kick and whip, the arm shoots up into the air as the baseball pounds the catcher’s glove. He’s a pitching onomatopoeia: All Pop! and Zip!

Considering the type of pitcher Peguero is, it’s somewhat surprising that the 28-year old reliever only made his Major League debut this past season after a decade in the minors. He was called up in late August to bolster the bullpen after the trade deadline purge and injuries to key players like Randy Rodríguez and Erik Miller. He threw two scoreless inning his debut on August 21st in San Diego and recorded his first punch-out with a 102 MPH sinker against Ramon Laureano.

Peguero went on to make 17 appearances over the final month and change of the 2025 season, throwing 22.1 Major League innings in which he logged a solid 2.42 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.

It was an impressive turnaround for a not-so-hot season in Sacramento where he posted a 5.10 ERA over 42.1 innings. Like many of his pitching ilk, the hard-thrower was hit hard and had a hard time finding the strike zone. A 9.78 K/9 rate was undermined by a BB/9 that flirted with 5. Opponents earned a .806 OPS in plate appearances against him. Circumstances led to his call-up, not performance. Peguero didn’t care. Free from the offense-first PCL, finally digging into a Major League mound proved to be a relief after a decade of toil. Though brief, he made the most of his opportunity.

An earned run didn’t blemish Peguero’s ERA until his 10th appearance against LA on September 14th. 13 of his 17 appearances were scoreless. He limited batters to just a .197 average and a .587 OPS. His hits and walks per 9 dropped — but his strikeouts fell precipitously (6.85 K/9) too. Power begets power, so contact against him was still consistently hard, but a lot of that damage went directly into the ground.

Trust is a key part of building a bullpen. But with Miller returning from injury, Ryan Walker coming off a frustrating year, and Rodríguez’s Tommy John surgery probably costing him the entire upcoming season — “trust” might be a luxury that new manager Tony Vitello just doesn’t have. Peguero might have ended the year at number 1 on Bryan’s bullpen trust power rankings, but as he pointed out, it was the best of pretty mediocre bunch. Not much has changed unfortunately over the intervening months, and Peguero looks like he could potentially be one of the best of a mediocre bunch at the start of the 2026 season in a couple of months.

Whether we like it or not, Peguero appears in line to fill a high-leverage set-up role for the 7th or 8th innings in support of Ryan Walker in the 9th. God-forbid, Walker loses his closer role again, Peguero ostensibly has the stuff to be the back-up plan. He’s the classic hard-throwing closer that slams the door in the 9th. On paper, his profile is a perfect match for the role — but the game ain’t played on paper. Questions and concerns abound about his performance, not to mention his level of experience. General command and his historically high walk rate is certainly a hang-up. He isn’t Tyler Rogers either, so the higher contact rate coupled with the higher hard-hit rate isn’t ideal. His 7 K/9 won’t cut it either, especially if he wants to be the guy to break the team out of mid-inning jams. Which brings me to the four-seamer — it’s obviously speedy, but speed in this league ain’t the silver bullet it used to be. Its movement is kind of flat too, which makes it easier for hitters to square up — especially if it’s poorly located. Then there’s the three pitch mix itself. Is it too one-note? Does he need something offspeed, or maybe a cutter with a different velocity, to keep hitters more off balanced?

There’s a lot for Peguero to figure out. There’s definitely promise, but no one wants promises when it’s the 7th, 8th or 9th innings, they want relief. We want comfort and confidence and certainty — Joel Peguero and his 22.1 innings of MLB experience just aren’t capable of providing that right now.