Minor leagues (1999–2004) The
Cleveland Indians signed Peralta as an amateur free agent in
1999 and assigned him to the
Dominican Summer League Indians that season. Peralta
batted .303 with a .398
on-base percentage (OBP) and a .514
slugging percentage (SLG); 41 percent of his hits went for
extra bases. Those figures were boosted by an unsustainable .373
batting average on balls in play (BABIP). Nevertheless, the Indians promoted him aggressively. In 2000, the 18-year-old Peralta played for the
Columbus RedStixx, the
Single-A affiliate of the Indians in the
South Atlantic League. He batted .241 with three
home runs and 34
runs batted in (RBI) in 106 games, playing all but one game at
shortstop (the other was at
third base). The following season, he advanced to the
Kinston Indians, Cleveland's
High-A affiliate in the
Carolina League. In 125 games, he batted .240 with seven home runs and 47 RBI. This offensive leap helped him win the
International League Most Valuable Player Award that year, and Buffalo went on to win the
Governors' Cup as the
International League champions. He also received the
Lou Boudreau Award as the Indians' 2004 Minor League Player of the Year.
Cleveland Indians (2003–10) Peralta made his Major League debut with Cleveland on June 12,
2003, appearing in the eighth inning as a
defensive replacement for
Casey Blake at
third base. He posted a .227
batting average with four home runs and 21 RBI in 77 games with Cleveland in 2003. The next season, despite his accomplishments at the
Triple-A level, Peralta saw just 25
at bats (AB) in eight games at the major league level due to the presence of perennial fan-favorite
Omar Vizquel, who left the Indians as a free agent following the
2004 season. On March 10,
2006, Peralta agreed to a five-year, $13 million contract with an option for a sixth year to stay with the Indians until the 2011 season. However, his 2006 season saw a decline both offensively and defensively from the previous season. He finished with a .268 average, 13 home runs and 68 RBI in 149 games. During the 2007 season, Peralta improved upon his 2006 numbers, and hit .270 with 21 home runs and 72 RBI in 152 games. In Game 2, Peralta hit a three-run home run off Red Sox pitcher
Curt Schilling for his first career postseason home run. He recorded 4 total RBI in Cleveland's 13–6 win. He added another three-run home run in Game 4, a 7–3 Indians win. Peralta hit .259 with two home runs and 8 RBI in the seven-game series, which was eventually won by the Red Sox. Peralta finished the season batting .254 with 11 home runs and 83 RBI in 151 games. In 91 games with Cleveland, Peralta batted .246 with seven home runs and 43 RBI. Because the club had already retired the number 2 – Peralta's uniform number as an Indian – in honor of
Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer, he chose the number 27 instead. On July 30, Peralta hit a home run in his first
plate appearance (PA) as a Tiger, and then, another, two plate appearances later. After joining the Tigers, he returned to primarily playing shortstop. He made 46 appearances shortstop, nine at third base, four at designated hitter and two at first base for the remainder of the 2010 season. On November 8, 2010, Peralta signed a two-year, $11.25 million contract to remain with the Tigers. The deal also included a club option for the 2013 season. He was named to his first career
All-Star Game as a replacement for
Derek Jeter on July 8, 2011. Peralta finished the regular season with a career-high .299 batting average and collected 21 home runs and 86 RBI in 146 games. Playing a full season at shortstop for the first time since 2008, he committed just seven errors in 608 chances for a career-best .988
fielding percentage. Peralta hit his first walk-off home run as a Tiger against the
Chicago White Sox on May 4,
2012. He batted .239 with 13 home runs and 63 RBI in 150 games. While Peralta did homer in Game 1 of the World Series, it would prove to be his only hit of the series. The Tigers would go on to lose in a four-game sweep to the
San Francisco Giants. On June 20,
2013, Peralta hit a
walkoff two-run home run off
Boston Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey to secure the Tigers' victory, 4–3. It was the Tigers' first walkoff win of the season. That season, Peralta was named to his second AL All-Star team as a reserve shortstop. This was his first selection by player vote (his previous selection was as an injury replacement). Peralta entered the All-Star break with a .303 batting average, eight home runs and 46 RBI. However, a cloud overshadowed what was shaping to be one of Peralta's best seasons. On August 5, he accepted a 50-game suspension for his role in the
Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal. On September 25, the Tigers announced that Peralta would be activated to the
40-man roster following his suspension. He returned two days later for the final series of the regular season. In his shortened regular season, Peralta batted a career-high .303 with 11 home runs and 55 RBI in 107 games. The Tigers, including
general manager Dave Dombrowski, expressed exoneration of Peralta's breach following the suspension. Despite derisive chants from fans and actions such as the San Francisco Giants leaving similar violator
Melky Cabrera off their playoff roster during their
World Series-winning season, the Tigers saw the 50-game suspension as sufficient punishment. With the Tigers down 3–0 and facing elimination against the Athletics in Game 4 of the
American League Division Series (ALDS), Peralta connected for a three-run home run in the fifth inning. It was "perhaps the biggest swing of the playoffs for the Tigers so far", surmised sportswriter Noah Trister. The Tigers eventually won the ALDS but lost to the Red Sox in the
American League Championship Series. In 10 playoff games, Peralta batted .333 with four doubles, one home run and 6 RBI.
St. Louis Cardinals (2014–2017) On November 24, 2013, Peralta signed a four-year contract worth $53
million with the
St. Louis Cardinals. Featuring a declining salary structure, the contract commenced with his salary at $15.5 million in 2014, then $15 million, $12.5 million, and finally $10 million in 2017. Without a qualifying offer from the Tigers, the Cardinals were not obligated to return a first-round draft pick.
Controversy with free agent signing However, the signing drew scrutiny because he had served the suspension for his connection to the Biogenesis scandal.
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher
Brad Ziegler spearheaded a cacophony of complaints that the 50-game suspension was not enough of a deterrent, because he viewed that it failed to prevent players who violated the collective bargaining agreement's banned substances use policy to receive compensation for their performances equal to those who had not been found to violate the policy. Cabrera had signed with the
Toronto Blue Jays for two years and $16 million following his suspension in 2012; however, little protest had arisen from those relatively modest figures. Cardinals
general manager John Mozeliak countered by illustrating that the Cardinals were not self-appointed "morality police. ... Character and makeup are something we weigh into our decision-making. In his case, he admitted what he did, he took responsibility for it. I feel like he has paid for his mistakes, and obviously if he were to make another one, then it would be a huge disappointment." New teammate and Cardinals outfielder
Matt Holliday, an outspoken critic of
performance-enhancing drugs (PED), declared indemnity. "I am against PEDs and always will be," he said at the Cardinals' winter fan festival. "But I also am a forgiving person and he served his suspension. That's the rules of the game. I'm happy to have him as a teammate. ... His teammates in Detroit welcomed him back."
Manager Mike Matheny echoed a similar averment.
2014 On April 27,
2014, Peralta hit his first multi-homer game in
Busch Stadium against the
Pittsburgh Pirates. It also gave him six home runs for the month, surpassing
Édgar Rentería's club record of five in April he set for shortstops in
2000. Peralta surpassed another team record for shortstops Rentería set in 2000, hitting his 17th home run of the season on August 20. While he produced his usual amount of home runs, his batting average was inconsistent early in the season. In each month from April to August, it progressed from .196 to .237 to .241 to .252 to .270. With the second-place Pirates just a game behind in the standings with two left to play for the season, Peralta drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning against the
Diamondbacks as part of a three-RBI night. He ended the season leading the Cardinals in home runs with 21. Peralta also led the club in doubles (38) and was second in slugging percentage (.443), RBI (75), total bases (248) and games played (157). His batting average was .263 and he posted an OBP of .336. In his first season in the
National League (NL), Peralta ranked seventh in the league in doubles and sixth in games played. According to
Baseball Reference's advanced metrics, he had his best season defensively, finishing fifth in the NL among all players – third among shortstops – with 2.5 defensive
Wins Above Replacement (dWAR). His combined offensive and defensive WAR placed tenth among all NL players at 5.8. On October 23,
The Sporting News announced Peralta was selected to their NL All-Star team. He finished 15th in the NL
MVP voting, the first time in his career he received consideration for the award.
Third All-Star selection (2015) On May 25,
2015, Peralta hit a walk-off home run in the tenth inning against the
Diamondbacks, his seventh home run of the season. In his time with the Cardinals through June 1, he ranked first in extra-base hits (80) and home runs (29), third in RBI (101), second in slugging percentage (.461) and OPS (.804) and fourth in on-base percentage (.361) among MLB shortstops. On defense, he did not rely heavily on range, but on smart positioning and making the routine plays, qualifying him for +1 defensive runs saved after saving 17 the year before. Peralta was selected as the National League's starting shortstop in the
All-Star Game at
Great American Ball Park in
Cincinnati after batting .298 with 13 home runs and 46 RBI over the first 87 games in 2015. After the All-Star break, he batted .243, and produced three doubles and two home runs over the final two months, or 54 games. Peralta finished the season with a .275 batting average, 17 home runs, 71 RBI, 26 doubles, and 159 hits in 155 games played. While fielding a ball during spring training on March 7, he damaged an
ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb. He underwent surgery to repair the ligament and was expected to miss 10 to 12 weeks of play. He began a
rehabilitation assignment with the Single-A
Peoria Chiefs on May 20, 2016, and the club activated him for game action before a series against
Cincinnati on June 7. The Cardinals placed Peralta back on the disabled list on July 19 due to swelling in the left thumb, although that injury appeared unrelated to the torn ligament and an MRI had revealed no structural damage, per Mozeliak. Due to the emergence of shortstop prospect
Aledmys Díaz, the Cardinals began to shift Peralta over to third base upon his return. Peralta finished the 2016 season batting .260 with eight home runs and 29 RBI in 80 games. and he was released on June 13.
Boston Red Sox The
Boston Red Sox signed Peralta on June 23, 2017. He was initially assigned to the Triple-A
Pawtucket Red Sox, where hit .200 with two home runs and 5 RBI in 10 games. ==Skills profile==