Mets: Freddy Peralta and Devin Williams to make spring debut on Friday

The New York Mets aren’t easing into this thing. Not this spring. Not with this kind of edge.

Friday’s Grapefruit League matchup against the St. Louis Cardinals isn’t just another sun-soaked exhibition in Florida. It’s the first real glimpse of what this front office thinks is a championship spine. Two arms. Two reputations. Two very different kinds of pressure.

“In addition to Freddy Peralta, closer Devin Williams will make his Mets debut in today’s Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals,” team insider Anthony DiComo posted on X.

That’s not a throwaway spring note. That’s a statement.

Freddy Peralta Isn’t a No. 2 — He’s the Quiet Ace

Peralta didn’t arrive with trumpets blaring, but make no mistake, the Mets stole something valuable when they pried him from the Milwaukee Brewers. It cost them Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat, and that’s not nothing. You don’t ship out premium prospects unless you believe you’re getting a pillar back.

Peralta is exactly that.

He’s entering a contract year, which in baseball is basically code for “career season incoming.” He’s already shown the blueprint. In 2025, he punched out 204 hitters in 176.2 innings with a 2.70 ERA. His strikeout rate sat at 28.2 percent. That’s ace-level bat-missing ability. The fastball rides, the slider dives off the table, and hitters look late.

And here’s the thing that gets overlooked: he thrives under volume. When he’s given the ball every fifth day without drama, he settles in. The Mets plan to let him throw only a couple innings Friday. Fine. That’s February. By September, he’s the guy you want staring down the Phillies or the Braves in a pennant race.

Call it now. A 2.70 ERA and 200-plus strikeouts isn’t wishful thinking. It’s well within range if he stays upright.

The Mets didn’t just add depth. They added teeth.

Devin Williams Has Something to Prove — And That’s Dangerous

Then there’s Williams.

Last year with the New York Yankees, he posted a 4.79 ERA. That number sticks out like a stain on a white jersey. It doesn’t fit the résumé. This is a reliever whose ERA usually starts with a one. Sometimes a two if he’s slumming it.

From 2021 through 2023, he ran a 1.97 ERA with Milwaukee. His changeup — that “Airbender” — made grown hitters buckle. His strikeout rate hovered around 14 per nine innings. He wasn’t just good. He was untouchable.

So what happened in 2025? Command wobbled. Fastball location leaked. The Bronx crowd doesn’t exactly whisper when a closer blows a save. It snowballed.

Now he lands in Queens with a chip on his shoulder and something most closers secretly need: redemption fuel. The Mets failed to bring back Edwin Diaz, and that left a vacuum at the back end. Williams isn’t just filling it; he’s trying to own it.

Spring debuts don’t decide anything. But tone matters. Body language matters. If Williams walks to the mound with that slow, deliberate swagger and the changeup starts disappearing under bats again, you’ll feel it immediately.

This team believes it’s building toward something bigger than a respectable season. The goal isn’t 88 wins and a polite exit. The goal is a parade that hasn’t happened since 1986. That drought hangs over every decision.

Peralta stabilizes the rotation. Williams slams the door in the ninth. That’s the formula. Simple on paper. Brutal in execution.

Friday is just a Grapefruit League game. But for a franchise that’s tired of being almost there, it feels like the first real pulse check of a team that thinks it can finally finish the job.