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The Brewers have just seven home games left at Maryvale Baseball Park this spring. They'll play four of them in the next five days.
The first of those games is today when they'll send Wily Peralta (3.24 ERA this spring, 4.37/4.10 ERA/FIP in 2013) to the mound to take on the Diamondbacks. Peralta is making his fourth appearance and third start of the spring, and his first since working 3.1 innings against the Indians on Sunday. He allowed three runs on four hits in that game, walking two and striking out two. Those were the only runs he's given up this spring.
2014 is Peralta's second full season in the majors, and he's still just 24 years old. We still tend to treat him as a young player that could develop into anything, but the projection systems don't seem to see him that way. FanGraphs has four projections for him from Steamer, Oliver, ZiPS and their own community and all of them have him posting an ERA and FIP between 4 and 4.5 in between 25-32 starts.
Peralta beat the Diamondbacks on July 14 of last season, holding them to a single run on seven hits over seven innings with two walks and eight strikeouts. No current Diamondbacks have faced him ten times or more.
He'll face 24-year-old Panamanian righty Randall Delgado (6.14 ERA this spring, 4.29/4.99 ERA/FIP in 2013) in his third start of the spring. Delgado last pitched in a big league game on March 4 against the Padres, who he allowed four runs on five hits over 3.2 innings. Two of those five hits were home runs.
Delgado joined the Diamondbacks when Atlanta included him as part of the Justin Upton deal in January of 2013. He's made 43 starts in the majors over the last three seasons but this could be his first chance to spend a full season with the big club. He throws a low-90's fastball with a lot of changeups (over 25% of all pitches) and the occasional curve.
Delgado pitched six innings against the Brewers on July 13 of last season and allowed four runs on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Jonathan Lucroy homered off him in that game. No current Brewers have faced him ten times or more, but the Brewers who have faced him at all are hitting a combined .381/.409/.524 in 22 plate appearances.
Mike Vassallo has today's lineup:
Today's #Brewers lineup vs. Arizona in Maryvale. First pitch 3:05 CT on @fswisconsin and @620wtmj. pic.twitter.com/euN5GEAi5c
— Mike Vassallo (@MikeVassallo13) March 14, 2014
Wily Peralta will be the first Brewers pitcher to bat in a game this spring. Zach Duke, Hiram Burgos and Jim Henderson are also expected to pitch today.
It's been cloudy in Phoenix today, but that should pass as the afternoon goes along. Expect a game-time temperature of around 75 to climb towards 80 as the afternoon goes along, with winds starting out blowing from right to left and eventually switching to straight out to center.