Shuckers' Peralta flourishes with arm, glove

Double-A Jacksonville was already having a hard time putting the ball in play against Biloxi's Freddy Peralta, so it seemed unfair when he made a no-look, back-handed grab on a comebacker in the sixth inning Monday.
"I think he was very surprised when he did make that catch," his pitching coach Chris Hook said. "It was just one of those backhanded-slap type of catches, but it really just summed up his night. It was his night, so it was probably dead-on for him to have a play like that as well."

On top that, the Brewers No. 11 prospect also struck out a career-high 12 over six scoreless innings in the Shuckers' 7-1 win over the Jumbo Shrimp at MGM Park. He allowed two hits and one walk.
"To me, the conviction in his fastball was the difference," Hook said. "This is a special fastball that misses the bats, and tonight, the conviction in his fastball was pretty special."
The 21-year-old right-hander struck out two around a walk to Marlins No. 26 prospectAustin Dean in the first and punched out nine of the next 14 batters he faced.
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"The thing about Freddy now is he's got three pitches," Hook said. "Earlier, he was working on two pitches. But now, it's a three-pitch mix, where he can throw a slider at any count, which he did tonight, and then he can also throw a changeup in any count. So I think the combination of all those things really make it a tough at-bat for hitters."
Leading off the sixth, Jacksonville's Braxton Lee tapped a 1-1 offering from Peralta back to the mound, only to have it snagged by the spinning right-hander on his backhand, facing away from the ball.
"I thought it was incredible," Hook said. "He's strong, athletic and he just moves well, so that doesn't surprise me. This is the same guy who has never hit before and hit a line drive that helped score a run in the second inning. So he started the rally tonight offensively, he made a nice play in the field and also struck 12 out of 18 he faced. I think tonight he checked all the boxes."

The scoreless outing wrapped up a stellar August for the Dominican Republic native, who allowed just one earned run while whiffing 33 in 22 1/3 innings over the month.

"I think he has done a really nice job while he's been in Double-A," Hook said about Peralta, who was promoted after posting a 3.04 ERA through 56 1/3 innings with Class A Advanced Carolina on June 22. "I think he has really settled in. When he first came here, he was a majority fastball pitcher. But now he goes from a one-pitch guy to a three-pitch guy, where they already have a difficult time squaring up his fastball. So if you start creating a little bit more gap between the fastball because you're throwing the changeup and the slider for strikes, the success is going to come."
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Jorge López gave up one run on two hits while striking out four over the final three innings to pick up his sixth save of the season.
Brewers No. 19 prospect Jacob Nottingham hit a three-run homer in the sixth and Troy Stokes Jr. went 3-for-4 with an RBI to pace the Shuckers offense.