How Petersen kept busy as the world shut down

This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Imagine a bunch of friends gathering for baseball out of the love of the game, only to be greeted by the triple-digits fastball of Michael Petersen -- a right-handed reliever in Triple-A Albuquerque who is one step from joining the Rockies.

Most baseball fans knew nothing of Petersen, 29, and the organized baseball world could have been excused for forgetting about him when he played in the 2023 World Baseball Classic representing Great Britain. He blew a 100 mph fastball past Team USA’s Nolan Arenado.

But it wasn’t the first time Petersen came seemingly out of nowhere and devastated the competition.

As background, Petersen was a 2015 17th-round pick of the Brewers who stayed in that system until the Rockies selected him in the Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft at the ’19 Winter Meetings. However, COVID-19 wiped out the ’20 Minor League season. The Rockies told him to throw as much as he could and however he could. So Petersen indeed became a masked man.

“I got put in a friend’s adult baseball league,” Petersen said. “California was a very strict state [with health and safety protocols]. So we’d just go to parks where 18 guys would show up, and if someone came by we’d just scatter to our cars and drive home. I believe we were the San Jose Marlins, run by a guy named Andrew. I still have the jersey. It’s hilarious.”

It ended up being not so funny for opponents when Petersen was firing pitches past folks who may have played varsity in high school or played some college ball but (no offense) weren't Arenado.

“One of my really good friends, who helped me get in touch with the team, was playing on a different team,” Petersen said. “Every single time, I could hear him laughing because he didn’t tell anybody. Funny thing was afterward, guys were like, ‘You should get signed.’ I’d say, ‘Yeah, I’m definitely going to look into it.’”

The return to organized ball wasn’t as much fun. Petersen underwent Tommy John surgery on May 5, 2021. The comeback was fraught with odd setbacks, like some shoulder pain. But at the team’s facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., Petersen spent time rehabbing and trading information with Rockies starting pitcher Peter Lambert and current Albuquerque reliever Tommy Doyle, who has seen Major League time.

“That guy’s just a workhorse,” Lambert said, offering a scouting report. “He’s big, lanky and throws the daylights out of the ball. We spent some time in Arizona. It’s always good to have somebody going through similar things with you, just in case you have some questions.”

Petersen made one appearance in the Arizona Complex League last year. He followed up the WBC with 28 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings at Double-A Hartford, and 10 strikeouts in 13 innings since being promoted to Albuquerque. A blip Thursday night -- two runs and three hits in two-thirds of an inning of a 9-5 win over El Paso -- raised his Triple-A ERA from 1.46 to 2.77.

How close is he?

“I try not to think about it much,” said Petersen, who was born in Middlesex, U.K., but was 1 when his parents moved to California and laughs when folks expect a British accent. “I set goals at the beginning of the season that don’t necessarily have to do with other people’s decisions. That’s to stay healthy and pitch as well as I can.

“If I end up lucky enough to get my chance, it’ll be awesome. If not, hopefully, I put together enough work ethic to get another chance next year to keep moving forward.”

And Petersen's once-unsuspecting adult league players can go from frightened opponents to fans.