Despite recent trades and graduations, the Los Angeles Dodgers will once again boast one of the better farm systems during the 2018 season.
Among the club’s more intriguing positional prospects is local product DJ Peters, who has climbed in the organization’s rankings after enjoying a breakout campaign last season. Peters garnered national headlines last season when he twice homered off San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner in the same inning.
Peters was with High-A Rancho Cucamonga, while Bumgarner was on a rehab assignment. Peters recently reflected on that experience, and was grateful to step up to the plate against him, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“We were super excited to face him; that doesn’t happen every day,” Peters said. “I was excited if I had gone 2-for-2 or 0-for-2, I just wanted to see what the Major League level was like and [face] one of the best in the game. I faced him three times and got ahold of him twice. It’s a time and moment I’ll never forget. I got both balls back, tickets to the game, a lineup card. I did not talk to him. I don’t know if that would have gone over good.”
Although Peters received plenty of attention, the Quakes as a team knocked Bumgarner around en route to defeating the San Jose Giants. All-in-all, the southpaw allowed nine runs and four home runs during the contest, and prsumably will remember Peters’ name going forward.
That was just one highlight in a season full of them for Peters. In 132 games and 586 plate appearances for the Quakes, the 22-year-old batted .276/.372/.514 with 61 extra-base hits, including 27 home runs.
Peters is among the non-roster Spring Training invitees on hand at Camelback Ranch this spring. At the very least, he figures to receive a promotion to Double-A Tulsa and could see his path to Los Angeles accelerate with further success.
