Rick Peterson

Birth Date:	01/01/1955
Height:	6'1"
Weight:	185lbs.
Position:	Pitching Coach

More Info
The Milwaukee Brewers acquired Peterson on October 19th, 2009 as the new pitching coach. Rick Peterson was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles straight out of high school, but opted to attend Gulf Coast Junior College instead. Upon completion of his psychology and art degree, Peterson was drafted as a free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Rick Peterson played in their Class-A organization for four years. In 1979, Peterson started his coaching career and coached in various minor league organizations until 1998 when he joined the Oakland Athletics as their pitching coach. As pitching coach for the Oakland Athletics, Peterson developed their “Big 3,” Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson. Zito went on to win the American League Cy Young Award. As the pitching coach, Peterson’s team had the best ERA in the American League for two years (2002 and 2003).

In 2003, Peterson joined the Mets pitching staff. As coach, he said he could fix Tampa Bay’s pitcher Victor Zambrano in 10 minutes and that the Mets’ top pick, Scott Kazmir, was years away from being able to pitch in the major league. Many believe these comments were the reason behind the Mets trading Kazmir for Zambrano. Zambrano had a poor season and Kazmir went on to be one of the top young pitchers in baseball.

Others say Peterson was merely giving his opinion and that he is not responsible for the trade. In 2008, Peterson was fired from the Mets along with their first base coach and manager.