David Peterson

David John Peterson (born September 3, 1995) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). Early life and amateur career Peterson's parents, Shannon and Doug, divorced when Peterson was a child. Peterson spent much of his childhood in stables with his father, a horse trainer who trained the likes of Seattle Slew. When Peterson was nine years old, his father died of an accidental drug overdose. Between eighth grade and his freshman year of high school, he grew ten inches. Peterson attended Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado. In 2013, he played in the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game at Wrigley Field. Before his senior year, he broke his fibula during a basketball game, underwent surgery and missed his entire senior baseball season. As a result, he fell to the 28th round of the 2014 MLB Draft. Peterson chose not to sign with the Boston Red Sox and instead enrolled at the University of Oregon, where he played college baseball for the Ducks. Peterson started 14 games as a freshman at Oregon in 2015, going 4–6 with a 4.39 earned run average (ERA) and 81 strikeouts. As a sophomore in 2016, he went 4–5 with a 3.63 ERA and 61 strikeouts over 13 starts. During the summer, he played for the United States national collegiate team. Peterson became Oregon's number one starter in 2017. On March 3, he set a school record with 17 strikeouts, breaking the previous record of 14 held by Tyler Anderson. On April 29, he broke his record after recording 20.