Brent Peterson was drafted in 2012 and hit .291/.377/.383 with the Arizona League Reds. After a good debut in 2012 the Reds sent Peterson to Dayton to begin his 2013 season.
April got off to an excellent start for Peterson as he went 3-3 with two runs and two RBI in his first game and followed that up with a 3-4 game where he doubled and scored twice. The infielder went 1-3 with a double and a walk in his next game. He didn’t play again until the 13th and went 0-2 with a walk. He would have another three hit game on the 17th but went into a slump for the rest of the month though as he would go 2-24 to finish out the month with a line of .295/.340/.364 with three walks and 13 strikeouts in 49 plate appearances.
The slump from April carried over to the first two games of May as Peterson went 0-7 before rebounding well with five hits in his next 10 at bats while drawing a walk in three games. As quick as he got going though he went back into a slump as he would go 1-14 over his next six games. He would finish out the month strong with hits in his final three games as he went 4-11 with a double, walk and a run. On the month he hit .217/.308/.239 with 5 walks and 15 strikeouts over 52 plate appearances.
June got off to a rough start as Peterson went 2-20 in five games and was sent to extended spring training. He would return less than two weeks later and would have hits in four of his first five games back with 2 walks and a triple. On his final day of the month he went 0-4 with a walk in a double header to finish the month out with a .179/.256/.282 line in 44 plate appearances with 4 walks and 9 strikeouts. After returning from extended spring training he hit .263/.364/.368 with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts on the month after a rough start.
Peterson got sparse playing time to begin July, racking up just 11 at bats through the 10th with just one hit including one game with five strikeouts. The Bakersfield native had a hit in each of his next three games though from the 11th-15th. He would only play in two more games on the month though after spraining his wrist. His numbers on the month weren’t good, but he only made it into 8 games where he hit .154 with 2 walks and 10 strikeouts.
August began with Peterson being placed on the disabled list after taking longer to recover than initially thought and he didn’t come off and make it into a game until the 18th against West Michigan when he would go 0-2 with 2 walks. Over his next three games he would go 4-9 with a double and 2 RBI with Dayton. He was then promoted to his hometown of Bakersfield to finish out his season with the Blaze. In the five games remaining he would go 5-15 with a walk and he would score two runs. In limited action due to the injury he would hit .333/.417/.381 with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts between Dayton and Bakersfield.
Season Stats
| Team | PA | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Dayton | 187 | 23 | 38 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 49 | .229 | .301 | .283 | .584 |
| Bakersfield | 17 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .333 | .375 | .333 | .708 |
| Total | 204 | 25 | 43 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 54 | .238 | .307 | .287 | .594 |
Overall Thoughts
Peterson had some struggles throughout the season. He split playing time during most of the season and would routinely sit for several days at a time before getting into a game. The second baseman had some problems with contact as he struck out 26.5% of the time he stepped to the plate and walked in 8.3%, which was a solid rate. He also really struggled to hit for power as well with just a .287 slugging percentage on the season. With inconsistent playing time and poor production in 2013, Peterson will be looking forward to a clean slate in 2014.
For more player season review, you can see the entire list here.