Robbie Peto is a 6’4 pitching prospect in the Dodgers organization that has always stood above the pack on the baseball diamond, but the qualities that stand out the most about the tall Right-Handed pitcher have nothing to do with throwing a baseball. Peto comes from baseball bloodlines and has learned how to become a leader, as evidenced by his Bio on the Stetson Hatters baseball site, his alma mater, where the first thing you see is “Team Captain”. His grandpa played as high as AAA with the Yankees and his dad played College Baseball at Rutgers, so he has learned how to approach the game, both on and off the field, from people who have done it, and now is adding his own career to his great family bloodlines of baseball.
History
Peto grew up in the New Brunswick area in New Jersey and went to High School at Monroe Township where he had a record-setting career. As a Falcon, the 6’4 hurler became the school’s all-time winningest pitcher, was a 3-time all-state selection and was a 2016 Perfect Game 2nd team All-American. He was also the #24 ranked pitcher in Prep baseball’s national coverage area and was ranked as the #2 Right-handed pitcher and the #4 overall player coming out of New Jersey in 2016.
My High School career is still something I look back on ’til today and I miss playing with those guys because, fortunately for me, most of the guys I played with in High School were the same close knit group of guys that I grew up playing with. So I made life long friends and having a good program at Monroe made it awesome to take the field everyday with the guys that I still consider my brothers to this day, so that was awesome and still something I think about to this day.
Tar Heel
With a mountain of success and elite bloodlines on his resume, the angular New Jersey native was highly sought after and committed to North Carolina, a College Baseball powerhouse before being drafted in the 30th round of the 2016 MLB draft by the Angels. Peto’s family were UNC fans and his Uncle had worked on the Dean Smith show when he was a kid, so the younger Peto had connections to the Tar Heels and eventually decided to turn down the offer from the Angels and make Chapel Hill his home.
When I was really young, or maybe before I was even born, my uncle worked for the Dean Smith radio show so I had that connection and a lot of my family grew up rooting for UNC so that was my dream school so when I got that offer it was an easy decision for me to commit. Before that I ended up getting drafted after my Senior year but I didn’t think that I was ready mentally or physically for the Pro ball level at the time and it just seemed to me that going to college and getting my degree would be something that would benefit me and hopefully I would still have the chance to play professionally after College.                                           Â
Collegiate Career
Peto redshirted his first year on campus in 2017 at North Carolina, then decided to transfer to the State College of Florida, a JUCO powerhouse, for his Redshirt Freshman year. The State College of Florida has 10 JUCO World Series appearances, has produced 31 Major Leaguers, has sent 476 players to four-year Colleges and Universities, and has also sent 260 players to professional baseball, one of which is High A Great Lakes manager Austin Chubb back when the College was known as Manatee Community College. After throwing 41.1 innings for the Manatees, Peto then decided to stay in the Sunshine State and transferred to Stetson University for his Redshirt Sophomore and Redshirt Junior years.
Logan Gilbert had just been taken in the 1st Round and I had looked into the program a lot and Stetson pretty much told me they were looking for someone to come in and replace Gilbert and be the guy for them. So I could easily tell that they wanted me there and they wanted me to pitch and help them out so seeing a team invest in me like that was big for me and it made my decision pretty easy.
Stetson
As a Redshirt Sophomore in 2019, Peto started 15 games on the mound for the Hatters and allowed 2 runs or less in 10 of those outings, was part of a combined no-hitter against Florida State, and got drafted again following that season. Tampa Bay drafted the hard-throwing Hatter in the 26th Round, but with 2 years left of eligibility, he once again turned down the offer to turn pro and decided to return to Stetson.
As a Redshirt Junior Peto became a Team Captain in 2020 and had 4 great starts including his last start where he out-dueled Ohio States star pitcher Seth Lonsway. But, just as he was off to a great start, the 2020 College baseball season was canceled and that’s when Peto finally decided to turn Pro. Although he did not get drafted, it is important to understand that the 2020 draft was reduced to just 5 rounds, so a lot of great prospects, like Peto, signed undrafted Free Agent deals when, in every other year, they would have been drafted. In fact, Billy Gasparino, director of scouting for the Dodgers, has been on record as saying that if the draft had been extended to normal lengths that Peto would have been drafted in the next 3 or 4 rounds. So, although on the surface it appeared that he down-graded by going back to school, that is absolutely not the case. As anecdotal evidence, his teammate at Stetson, Mitchell Senger, was also drafted in the 26th round, but in the 2019 Draft and Peto signed for just $5000 less than Senger did. As a trade-off, Peto got to choose his organization and got an extra year of College at Stetson paid for which is worth $70,000 so the math shows that he made the right decision by waiting until he did. And, by signing with the Dodgers who have the best developmental system in the League, his decision could have long-term net positive results that are quite substantial.
When Covid happened I didn’t really know what was going to happen. At first they were saying the draft was going to be 10 rounds and when I heard that I thought that I should be safe to get picked so I was feeling okay with that but when they said it was going to be 5 rounds I knew I would be on the grasp of the 5th or 6th Round so the draft was a pretty tense couple of hours for me. I got some calls but ultimately didn’t get picked and there was a 3 day waiting period before teams could sign free agents and I knew at that time it was now or never for me to go pro and that I couldn’t turn it down again. There were a bunch of reasons why I wanted to sign with the Dodgers because compared to all the other teams I had talked to they had all these plans layed out and they showed me all the ways they invest in their players and it’s pretty easy to tell why they’re so successful and it starts down here on the Minor League level. So it felt like the right fit for me and I knew they were the best organization and why not go with the organization that has the most success at developing players year in and year out, so choosing the Dodgers became easy for me.
Dodgers
Although signing with the Dodgers was an unbelievably exciting moment in and of itself, signing on the dotted line had extra significance for Peto. Peto became close friends with Zach Attianese while as a Freshman in High School and they went to both UNC and State College of Florida together and both shared the same dream of playing in the Major Leagues. In fact, the Dodgers had shown interest in Attianese while the 2 were playing baseball for the Manatees, but after committing to play for Florida State, Attianese and his father were killed in a six-vehicle car crash on I-75 in Michigan. In honor of Attianese, Peto waited until the 2 year anniversary of Attianese’s death to sign with the Dodgers.
There was a lot of scentiment in me signing with the Dodgers and that played a huge role. Zach lived in the town over from me and I met him after my freshman year of High School when we were playing in an All-Star game together. He was like the top rated pitcher after his Freshman year in High School and he was already committed to UNC. UNC didn’t really work out for either of us and while I was at State College I told the coaches about him and he ended up there. We were best friends, and he committed to Florida State, but then that Summer he and his dad were driving to a funeral and they were killed in an accident. That was tough for me and I decided to wear his number and I wear a chain with his number on it and I write something on the mound every time I pitch so he holds a special place in my heart and I know he’s always with me.
Feature Cut
Peto features a fastball that sits at 94-95, seems to jump out of his hand, and has a great “riding” effect up in the zone. He pairs that with a ++ Changeup that he can get to move in different ways and a breaking ball that I call a “slurve”, meaning it is in between a curveball and a slider. Here is a video of several fastballs up in the zone to give you a good visual as to the amount of “ride” he gets in the pitch up in the zone.
Peto pairs that fastball with a changeup that he pulls the string on, then also induces tumble and a lot of fade
Peto also has a breaking ball that has both “slider” action on some pitches, then more true 12-6 “curveball” action on others. He throws it in the high 70’s to low 80’s, so it gives him a big differential off of his fastball.
Finishing Up
Peto is flying a touch “under the radar” in my opinion, just simply due to the fact that he was not drafted, But, don’t let that fool you because, again, it happened in 2020 a year that only had 5 rounds and in every other year he would have been a 7th or 8th Round draft pick. 2021 was his first season to pitch as a professional and he spent the entire season with Low A Rancho Cucamonga where he threw 70.2 innings in 20 appearances, so, at 23 years old, it could be assumed that he will break 2022 with High A Great Lakes, then likely get moved to AA Tulsa towards the end of the season. He is another pitching prospect that fits perfectly into the Dodgers system because he has a tall frame, a big fastball, a tumbling, and fading changeup, and a “slider” type pitch. He is able to move the ball in every different direction as his fastball gives the perception that the ball is rising, his changeup gives him tumble and arm-side fade, and his breaking ball gives him glove side break. With the bloodline he was born into and the type of character he has developed, he will give himself every chance to maximize his tools and those tools are already pretty advanced, so he has an exciting future ahead.
