The first question in the interview room went to Fernando Tatis Jr.
So did the second, third and fourth.
David Peralta smiled wide and pumped his fist a bit as the conversation finally turned to him, kidding the 25-year-old superstar seated to his right in Petco Park’s fourth floor conference room after the Padres’ 6-5 win.
The 37-year-old journeyman is just so happy to be here.
To be back in the playoffs. To be with the Padres. To be in baseball at all.
“It means a lot to me, especially the way I started this year,” Peralta said after his two-run double helped key the Padres’ only rally in a Game 3 win over the Dodgers in the NLDS. “I … gotta go play in Triple-A and try to find a way back to the big leagues. And finally the San Diego Padres gave me an opportunity and believed in me that I could help the team do this. I’m just grateful, especially being around this great guy and all of my teammates. They all supported me, believed in me.
“It’s a special moment being in this position now and (doing) my part to help to win for the team.”
Peralta’s path to this point includes flaming out as a minor league pitcher in the Cardinals system, hitting his way to the big leagues years later with the Diamondbacks and playing nine years in Arizona before bouncing from Tampa Bay to the Dodgers over the previous two seasons.
His career reached a significant crossroad after last season when he required a flexor tendon repair in his left (throwing) elbow after playing through the injury since the All-Star break.
Peralta signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in February, began the season on Triple-A Iowa’s injured list and had a .689 OPS in 20 games when he was cut loose in early May.
The Padres picked up Peralta a week later, sent him to Triple-A El Paso and recalled him before the end of the month as a left-handed bat to help off the bench as the team pieced together how to handle Xander Bogaerts’ shoulder fracture.
The need became quite a bit bigger when that “great guy” to his right late Tuesday night, the right fielder for a team trying to eclipse last year’s letdown, hit the injured list on June 24 with a stress reaction in his right femur.
Only Peralta was hitting .196/.297/.232 through his first 64 plate appearances with a team that had at least become enamored with a magnetic clubhouse presence.
Real production followed.
The team’s regular right fielder against lefties during Tatis’ absence, Peralta closed the season hitting .289/.347/.472 with eight homers and 24 RBIs over 64 games. While Tatis’ return in September pushed Peralta’s bat back to the bench, he drove in two runs on Saturday via his first career postseason home run and doubled in two runs in the second inning to help push the Padres to the brink of advancing to the National League Championship Series.
“It was a big swing he took the other day, the two-run homer,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “And a two-run double today. He opened up both games. He’s been tremendous for us. Obviously in Tati’s absence he was a big part of what got us here. He’s done a great job. Without David Peralta I’d shudder to think where we (are), and he continues to perform.”
As for Peralta, he doesn’t want to think where he’d be without the Padres.
He’s right where he belongs.
“I think I realized that (the) first time I stepped in the clubhouse in Cincinnati when I got called up to the big leagues (with the Padres),” Peralta said. “I saw this group. I know this guy (Tatis); I’ve been playing against these guys for a long time … and they just welcomed me. And it’s just a great group of guys.
“We’re all together like a brotherhood. And we go out there and have fun and do our job and do our thing. And we’re good, man. We’re good.”
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