The list of Manitobans to play in Major League Baseball isn’t a long one. In fact, it only takes a few seconds to go through.
Tristan Peters of Winkler makes a catch in the outfield during his first games with the Tampa Bay Rays. The 25-year-old outfielder became just the fifth Manitoban to reach Major League Baseball earlier this month
Brandon’s Russ Ford (1909–1915), Souris’ Mel Kerr (1925) and Virden’s Harry Sketchley (1942) made up that list until 1998, when Anola’s Corey Koskie started his MLB career with the Minnesota Twins.
Not long after Koskie’s debut, Tristan Peters was born in Winkler to parents Jake and Gabi in 2000.
After Koskie’s last game in 2006, nearly 19 years passed before another Manitoban played in the majors.
On Aug. 8, that drought ended as a now 25-year-old Peters suited up for the Tampa Bay Rays in his first MLB game at T-Mobile Park against the Seattle Mariners.
“Forty-five thousand fans was pretty absurd. I’ve never played in front of that many people,” Peters said last Thursday.
Peters became the fifth Manitoban to reach the majors that evening. His wife Erin, his parents and family and friends from Winkler were all able to make the trip to cheer him on.
Many of them were there from the beginning, when Peters first picked up a bat at the ball diamond beside his home.
Like most Canadians, hockey was also a way of life for Peters. The two sports competed for his time, keeping him constantly active.
“At first in my childhood, I feel like hockey was the bigger thing. I feel like that’s a very Canadian thing. But I enjoyed baseball, and I was always pretty good at it,” Peters said.
He played both sports locally in Winkler until just before high school, when he quit hockey to focus on ball. He later returned to the ice for one season of high school hockey with the Garden Valley Collegiate Zodiacs in Grade 10.
That, however, was a one-and-done stint, as opportunity knocked for Peters to move to Okotoks, Alta., to play higher-level baseball. The move gave him more exposure and the chance to be recruited by college scouts as a 16-year-old.
Just as he hoped, his two years in Okotoks earned him a commitment to play junior college ball in the U.S. for Chandler-Gilbert Community College.
After two seasons there, one shortened by COVID-19, Peters transferred to Southern Illinois University for the 2021 season. He made an instant impact, batting .355 with 55 RBIs and six home runs.
That breakout season put him on the professional radar, and in June 2021 he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh round of the MLB amateur draft.
Peters credits his parents for giving him the opportunity to chase his dream.
“Just bringing me to all the sporting stuff when I was young,” Peters said. “Just signing me up for that, and taking me to all those games. Obviously, that’s a big part of many kids’ childhoods when it comes to sports. But also just helping me through college. When I went to Chandler-Gilbert, I paved my way to getting a scholarship to Southern Illinois, but they helped me get in there, get my foot in the door.”
Getting drafted was only the first step. Peters bounced around the minors in the Brewers, San Francisco Giants and Rays organizations for three seasons before earning his first Triple-A look with the Durham Bulls, the Rays’ top affiliate.
His 2024 season with the Bulls wasn’t dominant. He batted .238 with 46 RBIs and 12 homers in 123 games, leaving him with plenty to think about in the off-season.
When spring rolled around, Peters got another chance with the Bulls and made the most of it. He hit .282 with 58 RBIs and 11 home runs in 105 games, earning an in-season call-up and making the years of grinding it out in the minors worthwhile.
“There were plenty of those times, almost every time I struggled, it felt like you had no chance,” Peters said. “Then last year in Triple-A, I didn’t have a great year, and it just didn’t feel like it could be possible. But I tried to keep in my mind that I was going to make it. I made some improvements, and I played a lot better this year. Just feeling comfortable—obviously there’s been struggles—but just continuing to get better every day and every year, improving on at least something, helped me get this far.”
Peters was on a road trip with the Bulls in Memphis, Tenn., on Aug. 7 when he got the call from his manager during breakfast with a teammate.
At first, he thought the call was to check on a finger he had tweaked the night before. Instead, the message was that the Rays had called him up, and he’d be on a flight to Seattle just three hours later.
That left Peters with just enough time to pack his bags and make some calls—the first to his wife.
“She’s the first person I call when anything like that happens. She’s my number one. Then I made a bunch of other calls and tried to get packed up.”
Now a few games into his MLB career, Peters said he has already learned a lot. He jumped in during the Rays’ 12-game road trip that wrapped up Sunday in San Francisco.
On Tuesday, the Rays return home to Tampa to take on the New York Yankees in the first game of a five-game homestand.
Now rolling with the big boys, Peters has opened the door for many Manitoba kids who dream of one day playing in the majors.
When he returns home to Winkler, his status as a local celebrity is sure to be even greater.
