Giants: Can Wandy Peralta make the Opening Day roster?

San Francisco Giants reliever Wandy Peralta is one of many left-handed hurlers in camp. With one option remaining, will he making the Opening Day roster?

Since reliever Wandy Peralta has one minor league option remaining, the decision on whether he makes the San Francisco Giants roster extends beyond on-field performance. Flexibility is a factor as well, and that comes with having options.

Peralta is joined by Tony Watson, Jerry Blevins, Sam Selman, and Jarlin Garcia as southpaws vying for a spot in the bullpen.

From this group, Watson is the only one with a guaranteed roster spot when the season begins. Blevins was brought in on a minor league pact, so he has to earn his spot on club, and the same goes for 40-man roster member Selman, Garcia, and Peralta.

Garcia is the only one from that group who is out of options, and he would have to be exposed to waivers if he does not make the team.

With that being said, Peralta has some prior experience with the Giants. The long-time Cincinnati Reds reliever joined the team at the end of last season as a waiver claim, and yielded two earned runs across 5.2 frames.

Up until this point, Peralta’s career has been a bit of a mixed bag. Despite the fact that he features a mid-90’s fastball from the left side, Peralta has posted a 4.93 ERA against a 5.01 FIP in 185 appearances over four seasons.

However, the 28-year-old’s home ballpark for much of his career has been hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark, and his home and road provide reason for optimism.

Throughout his career, Peralta has struggled to the tune of a 6.37 ERA at home, compared to a much more palatable 3.52 ERA on the road.

The home run ball has plagued the hard-throwing southpaw, and this issue was exacerbated when pitching in the Reds home ball field. Throughout his career, Peralta has registered a 1.9 HR/9 rate at home, compared to a 0.7 HR/9 rate on the road.

Clearly, the Giants are hoping that a change of scenery is all that Peralta needs for his performance to match his stuff.

Given his overall performance, the Giants took a small risk in keeping him on the roster. After only seeing him briefly last season, the Giants decided to tender the arbitration-eligible Peralta a contract for 2020.

Due to his minor league option, the odds of Peralta making the Opening Day roster are complicated. The southpaw may earn a roster spot out of spring training, but the Giants may leverage his option to maintain organizational flexibility.

To his credit, Peralta has done well at preventing runs this spring. Across 3.2 frames, he has not yielded a run while striking out seven, but he has issued four walks as well. Clearly, he has been effectively wild.

However, performance is not the only factor in the case of Peralta. As the Giants evaluate how to structure their bullpen for the 2020 season, Peralta is making a solid case to remain with the team once the Cactus League season ends.

Lastly, and not that this should influence the Giants decision-making, but:

Baseball could use more style and bullpen carts.

Do you think Wandy Peralta will break camp with a spot on the San Francisco Giants roster? Let us know in the comments.