The Brewers' Jace Peterson is quietly in midst of best all-around season of his career

PITTSBURGH — For the first time since very early in his career, Jace Peterson has spent the majority of a season at one position — third base.

A byproduct of that stability? According to one metric, he's been the Milwaukee Brewers' best defensive player to date.

Entering Saturday, the 32-year-old has accounted for 11 defensive runs saved as ranked by FanGraphs.com, a total that was tied for fourth-best in the major leagues overall and second-best in the majors at third base among players who'd logged at least 400 innings.

Pittsburgh's Ke'Bryan Hayes led all players with 15 while tied with Peterson at third was St. Louis's Nolan Arenado, a perennial Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner and, most would agree, the best defensive third baseman of this generation.

It's pretty heady company to be part of, even if Peterson wasn't aware of his elite standing among his peers.

"I don’t really look at that too much," he said. "For me, it’s trying to get my work in and prepare every day and I think whatever happens, happens. That’s definitely nice to know, but there’s a long way to go.

"I’ll continue to work at it and be as prepared as I can be."

Peterson, in his ninth year in the majors and third with the Brewers, reported to spring training in March with some uncommon security — a one-year, $1.825 million contract signed last Nov. 30 to avoid arbitration.

His role, everyone expected, was to remain what it had been since first coming to Milwaukee in 2020 — super utility man, with the ability to play pretty much anywhere across the diamond.

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But, as so often happens, plans quickly changed.

Luis Urías, the young incumbent at third base who was coming off a career season, injured his leg at the start of Cactus League play and was sent to the injured list for the remainder of spring training as well as the first 23 games of the regular season.

So, Peterson held the job until Urías came back in early May.

A little over two weeks later, Willy Adames sprained his ankle and landed on the IL. Urías slid over to shortstop and Peterson once again found himself at third.

Adames returned 20 games later. Then, not long after that, Kolten Wong was sidelined by a calf injury that eventually sent him to the IL.

That left Urías to slide to second and Peterson to once again man third.

To this point, 44 of Peterson's 50 starts have come at third base with three more at first, two in right field and one in left.

Last season, of Peterson's 66 starts, only nine came at third compared to 28 at second, 15 in right and seven at both first and in left.

"This is the first year where I’ve kind of gotten to focus all my work basically on one spot," said Peterson, whose previous career high for defensive runs saved was five at third base in 2018 while with the Baltimore Orioles.

"I feel like anytime you do that, you’re going to get better if you continue to work and get all your practice reps," he continued. "You obviously get a little bit more comfortable and get in a better rhythm and a better flow with that spot.

"That’s where we’re at right now with it. But for me, I know I have to be able to play everywhere, so I still try to mix it (up in practice)."

By another metric, Outs Above Average as calculated by Major League Baseball, Peterson also leads the Brewers with six — one more than Adames.

He isn't flashy by any means, nor does he possess the cannon arm that most of the prototype third basemen like Arenado do.

No, steady and reliable are the two words that probably best describe Peterson's play.

"Jace is a player who, throughout his career and just because of his general athleticism and the trajectory of his career, he’s been bounced around position-wise a lot," manager Craig Counsell said. "Just to keep big-league jobs, that’s what he’s had to do. This year, the way it’s worked out with us with some injuries that have happened to Kolten, Willy and Luis, we’ve been able to get him at one position.

"The biggest thing is, he’s just been so steady. Third base is a place where there’s not a ton of highlight plays, but there’s a lot of tricky plays, and you make them and make them look easy and you’re consistent with them – that’s what I think Jace has done. He’s taken a lot of tricky plays and made them look easy and routine. And that’s what good third basemen do.

"You don’t get to pick your hops and your hands are really important. Throwing accuracy – it’s a long throw and there’s a lot of tough throws, so throwing accuracy is very underrated at that position.

"And that’s what Jace has done so far."

Chances are with Urías, Adames and Wong all back and in the lineup, Peterson will find himself mixing and matching defensively a little more.

Which is fine with him.

"That’s probably what it’s going to line up to be," he said. "But I’ll continue to take my ground balls at third and mix in at second and first and short and get a little bit of work in everywhere else – I’ll still take fly balls and shag in the outfield."

Peterson's work with the glove isn't the only part of his game that's surprised this season, however.

He's also tapped into some power with his left-handed bat to the point he's already tied his career high for home runs with seven in 179 at-bats over 67 games.

Peterson first hit seven homers in 2016 (his third season in the majors) but it took him 350 at-bats over 115 games to reach the mark.

Peterson points to 2019 – a season in which he spent all but 29 games in the minor leagues with the Baltimore Orioles – as the jumping-off point for a new approach at the plate.

"That was a huge year for me," said Peterson, whose .747 OPS in 2022 is tops for his career in seasons where he's played at least 60 games. "I was in the minor leagues the majority of that year, but I really worked on – people call it launch angle, but for me it’s trying to catch the ball out front.

"Ever since 2019 I’ve gotten pretty good with it and more comfortable with it, and I feel like it’s just a result of kind of committing to that plan. And now I feel like I’m getting better every year, honestly, as far as approach and what I need to do and what kind of hitter I am."

Peterson credited several coaches in the Baltimore organization in starting him down that path, then former Milwaukee hitting coach Andy Haines with reaffirming his belief that he could indeed hit for more power.

And now, current hitting coaches Ozzie Timmons and Connor Dawson have helped keep Peterson on the path to what should be the first double-digit homer campaign of his career.

"It’s one thing I was speaking with Andy Haines about a couple years ago, and he was very convinced that we could get to some power with Jace," Counsell said. "The organization kind of laid that out to Jace, and he’s done a really nice job of understanding it.

"It’s been a process, but it’s paid some dividends, for sure."

Peterson's .240 average won't wow anyone. It's the versatility, reliability and calm veteran demeanor he brings to the table that makes him so valuable to the Brewers.

And as someone who's bounced around for the majority of his career, to be able to point to some stellar work with the glove and now as someone who can drive the ball over the fence more consistently in the launch-angle era is certainly gratifying.

"I’ve learned a lot over the years. I’ve failed a lot over the years," Peterson said. "So, I have a constant bank I can draw back on and bring back to my mind to see what works and what doesn’t.

"When I first came up, I was pretty raw and was ready (physically) but didn’t know exactly the type of hitter I wanted to be. I feel like I was in-between a lot. Now, I feel like I’m in a better spot of knowing what I want to do, knowing my plan and just trying to execute it every day.

"Obviously, it’s not always going to work out, but I feel like I have power. I keep preparing, doing my work and when I go out there whatever happens, happens."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers' Jace Peterson in the midst of his best all-around season