2025 MVBrewers #1: Freddy Peralta

By popular demand, I’ve flipped these rankings back to ranking from the top down, with the BCB community able to weigh in via The Feed. We’re kicking off the rankings of the Brewers’ 10 most valuable players in 2025 with staff ace Freddy Peralta. Peralta finished the season with 5.5 bWAR and 3.6 fWAR, good for second and third best on the team, respectively.

I personally had Peralta as the most valuable player on the team for 2025, and the community agreed, with seven of the 11 votes as of Thursday afternoon going to him. The other four went to Brice Turang (three votes) and William Contreras (one vote).

Peralta’s Baseball Savant page features a whole lot of red, as he ranked in the 80th percentile or better in Pitching Run Value, Fastball Run Value, Breaking Run Value, Offspeed Run Value, xBA, average exit velocity, whiff rate, strikeout rate, and hard-hit rate.

While walks remained an issue for Milwaukee’s ace (9.1% walk rate ranks in the 30th percentile), it was a slight improvement from 2024, and he also allowed a full hit less per nine innings this season. All of that together resulted in the best year of his career.

Across 33 starts, Peralta went 17-6 (17 wins led the NL) with a 2.70 ERA, 3.64 FIP, and 204 strikeouts over 176 2/3 innings. It also marked his third consecutive 200-plus strikeout season, displaying his consistency at the top of the rotation even as so many others around him have faced injuries and setbacks.

Some of Peralta’s best outings this season include:

Peralta was also named NL Pitcher of the Month for August as he went 4-0 with just one run allowed across 28 innings (0.32 ERA) with 34 strikeouts compared to 11 hits and 12 walks (0.821 WHIP). While he wasn’t named a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award, he very well could have been (and likely would’ve been if wins were still weighted as heavily as they were 20-30 years ago). Instead, he’s probably looking at a fourth or fifth place finish.

Overall, it was a great season for Milwaukee’s ace. After the team picked up his $8 million club option for 2026, the question remains: Will Peralta be in a Brewers’ uniform come Opening Day 2026?

We’ll continue these rankings on Tuesday with our No. 2 player. To weigh in on the voting, visit The Feed.