Cole Peterson was about to take a nap.
The former St. Bonaventure and Olean Oilers star had just returned to his hotel room from an afternoon practice at the Detroit Tigers’ minor league spring training facility in Lakeland, Fla., when the phone rang.
It was one of the team’s farm directors on the other end.
“Hey Pete,” the man began, “how would you like to catch a bus to the Yankees game tomorrow?”
Peterson was stunned, but ecstatic. Exactly one year earlier, the Johnsonburg, Pa., native was playing shortstop for the Bonnies in a 7-3 victory over North Dakota St. He had fared well in his first minor league season after being selected by the Tigers in the 13th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft, but this was something else entirely.
The next morning, March 13, he was on his way to Tampa to play the New York Yankees.
Peterson, despite his 5-foot-11, 160-pound stature, had always found a way to stand out.
He was a two-time New York Collegiate Baseball League Defensive Player of the Year and a key piece on the Oilers’ two championship teams. He was a two-time Atlantic 10 all-conference selection and arguably the best player on a Bona team that finished No. 3 in the league last spring.
In his first professional campaign, with the short-season Class A Connecticut Tigers, he played a typically impressive short, committing just seven errors in 270 total chances, with an on-base percentage of .285 in 55 games.
Last Tuesday, the same day the Bona basketball team beat UCLA in the NCAA Tournament, he was rewarded for his progress.
Peterson was given his first MLB spring training action in the seventh inning of an eventual 2-2 tie. And while it might have been a forgettable game by any other account, it’s an inning he’ll always remember.
In the top half, he faced Yankee fireballer David Robertson in his first major-league at-bat. And though Peterson made contact, he bounced into a 6-4-3 double play. In the bottom half, he took his usual place at shortstop. The first three batters of the inning? Yankee stars Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez.
Peterson finished 0-for-2, striking out against Giovanny Gallegos in the ninth. For at least one afternoon, however, he was a Tiger, sharing a dugout with former MVP Miguel Cabrera, playing before a Steinbrenner Field crowd of 9,969.
“It leaves me speechless, honestly,” he said. “It was a tremendous honor just to be out on the field.
“At this time last year, I was watching (the Yankees) on TV and in the playoffs. Now I wake up and I’m on the field with them, playing with those guys while they’re up to bat. I can’t explain it. It’s like a dream come true.”
His memorable moment became a memorable week.
Two days after joining the big league club, Peterson was pulled aside at the Lakeland facility by a different organizational rep, who told the farmhand to be at the “big field tomorrow dressed up.”
The next day, the former St. Bonaventure star was named the Connecticut Tigers’ 2017 team MVP. It was another welcome surprise, a well-earned accolade but an extra source of motivation to continue his climb.
“Yeah, it caught me off-guard,” he acknowledged. “It was truly an honor because I played with a lot of good kids that came out of college that were drafted this past year just like me.
“It’s definitely a morale and confidence booster, for sure, because I’ve worked hard all summer. It definitely makes me want to do more this year, grind more on top of that, just keep working, get better at every aspect of my game. But it was a big honor. I’m definitely proud of myself for that.”
Where is he off to next? Peterson doesn’t know.
As a minor leaguer, he won’t find out until the end of spring training where the organization intends on placing him to start the 2018 campaign. He’d like to begin the year with the full-season Class A West Michigan Whitecaps in the Midwest League.
“Clearly, I’d like to be in the majors,” said Peterson, who left Bona a year early to begin pursuing his professional baseball dreams, “but I’ve got some work to do still. I’m hoping to be at West Michigan, that’s the goal. I don’t want to get stuck in extended spring training, so that’s my goal, or to start even higher than that.”
Much like in the NYCBL or Atlantic 10, Peterson was one of the best defensive shortstops in the New York-Penn League last year. He knows that’s what gives him the best chance at elevating within the Tigers’ organization.
And even though he hit just .246 in the minors last year, there’s evidence his bat is starting to improve, as well (he led Bona in a number of offensive categories last spring, including batting average).
Peterson was happy with how his first professional season went, and now he’s looking to improve on both aspects.
“I can always get better at every aspect of my game, and that’s what I’m going to continue to do,” he said. “Ever since I got down here for mini camp in February, I’ve been back at it, working on my defense with the infield coordinator, working on the little stuff that makes things easier. Same with hitting.
“I know what I can do, I just want to improve on that, improve on my season last year. That’s my goal.”
(J.P. Butler, Bradford Publishing Company group sports editor, can be reached at othbutler@gmail.com)
