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Peterson
In late October 2020, the Los Angeles Dodgers were celebrating their first World Series championship since 1988. Dwayne Peterson watched the World Series from his couch. He predicted the Dodgers would close the door on the frisky Tampa Bay Rays because of their postseason experience, dominant starting pitching and powerful bats up and down the lineup. The Dodgers are one of the teams who have inquired about Peterson’s services.
Longtime veteran players of the Dodgers such as World Series MVP Corey Seager and future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw were relieved to shake the proverbial championship monkey off their backs. Before they were champions, they were in yearly battles chasing the Commissioner’s Trophy. The Dodgers were on the cusp of victory in 2017 but were defeated in seven games by the now infamous Houston Astros. With the Astros game 7 victory, Peterson also shook the proverbial championship monkey off his back.
Peterson is the only person in Pendleton County history to earn a championship ring from one of the four major North American sports leagues. His path to get to that point was quite unconventional.
Football was his first love. Peterson competed on some of the first Wildcat football teams coached by Tim Carver. He did well enough for the Wildcats to catch the eye of the Morehead State Eagles. After he graduated from Pendleton County in 2004, the same class as MLB pitcher Nate Jones, Peterson became the first Wildcat football alumni to compete in a Division 1 football game. The Eagles were on a run where they won four straight Pioneer League South division titles in which Peterson saw the tail end of. After seeing limited playing time at wide receiver for the Eagles, Peterson transferred to Northern Kentucky University and completed his B.S. in Exercise Science.
“In high school, I played football and ran track. I was one of the first people to play collegiate football. I always loved lifting and the grind of it,” said Peterson. “I’ve always enjoyed that process so whenever my playing career was done and I was deciding what I wanted to do, I just fell into that. It was natural. In college I was getting into bodybuilding and powerlifting. It was a natural career path for me.”
After getting jacked in college and competing in shows as a professional bodybuilder and later a powerlifter, Peterson decided the physically and mentally demanding lifestyle of a weightlifting athlete wasn’t for him. He was searching for his next challenge in athletics. Peterson earned an internship at Mt. St. Joseph aiding with Strength and Conditioning.
“At the time, they had one guy training all their sports,” said Peterson. “He was strung out and was working way too much. He ended up asking me if I could take care of the baseball program so he could spend time with his wife. I ended up taking over baseball not really knowing much about it from a strength and conditioning standpoint. That was my time to experiment and learn.”
His time at Mt. St. Joseph’s was crucial for his development as a strength and conditioning coach. It helped Peterson immerse himself in the profession. Peterson began to craft his own philosophy on how to train athletes. He spent three years working for the local college before he decided to take a chance on himself. Peterson found a job posting for a HoustonAstros minor league Strength and Conditioning online.
“I was looking online and saw there was a job posting for the Astros,” said Peterson. “It was super old, honestly like two months old, but I just shot my resume in anyway. I got a call the next day because they apparently had just fired a guy. I was down in Florida the next day. I got hired and the next thing I know, seven years later, here I am.”
Peterson scaled the minor league mountain for Houston. He worked for their rookie ball, Single A, Double A and Triple A affiliates. He spent much of his time in Double A and Triple A. The minor league lifestyle is a tough adjustment. It’s frantic traveling during infrequent hours. It’s physically and mentally demanding. The monetary compensation should be better. Peterson spent time training big leaguers in the Quad Cities in Iowa to Fresno, CA.
The development of Peterson’s career can also mirror the development of his former MLB employer. The Triple A team he worked for in Fresno traveled further and had outdated facilities. Although he did work well in these conditions, the grind of Fresno wore on Peterson. That changed after the 2017 World Series win when the Astros decided to move their Triple A affiliate to Round Rock, TX. It had brand new facilities, a brand-new stadium and state of the art technology. As the old saying goes, winning pays.
Not only did his minor league situation change, so did the profession. Over the past 20 years, advances in technology have moved the field of Strength and Conditioning further than many thought possible. The coaches were able to correlate their training methods to aid players deficiencies and help put them into a position to make a major league roster.
“When I came in, our basic responsibilities were write and lead the players in their strength and conditioning programs. We do lifting programs and taking them through their daily warmups, getting ready for the day with warmups and prep routines. We stretch guys. We have nutritional education. That all evolved,” explained Peterson. “Nowadays we’re involved with their strength, conditioning, running, speed development. There’s the sports science side of things. We make decisions based off data obtained and then alter the program. Everything is individualized whereas when I came in it used to be super generalized. We’re involved in a lot of aspects than what it would seem. It’s not just writing a guy a strength program.”
The Strength and Conditioning coach can now aid players on how to add velocity to their fastball. By analyzing video using new age technologies, Peterson can put together a program that focuses on certain areas of the body to strengthen. These weaker areas could explain why a player could have a mechanical deficiency in his throwing motion. Like a NFL player, Peterson would spend hours dissecting film to find out how he could better understand a player’s deficiencies.
Over his minor league career, Peterson has formed strong friendships with recognizable big-league players such as relief pitch Josh James and star Oakland Athletics centerfielder Ramon Lauerano. He’s personally coached All-Star players such as Astros third baseman Alex Bregman. Through coaching, he’s seen the eccentric sides of electric personalities like Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel and Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez. Ryan Thompson, relief pitcher for the 2020 American League champion Tampa Bay Rays, was coached by Peterson in the Astros organization before he was traded.
Recently Peterson found himself on a nearly empty flight bound for CVG Airport. Flying out of Arizona and heading home, the Kansas City Royals Triple A Strength and Conditioning Coach was one of thousands of Major League Baseball employees to have their jobs for the upcoming season cut short due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID-19 is affecting baseball more than a lot of people know. They’re in a tough spot financially,” said Peterson. “And it sucks to say this, but unfortunately strength and conditioning are the first ones to get cut which is crazy because our role is so important and vital to what baseball players do on a day-to-day basis, especially when you get up to AAA, you really affect the Major Leagues. You have a huge impact on the Major Leagues.”
With his baseball future currently up in the air due to the pandemic, Peterson is back home plotting his next move. He’s considered going back to school at the University of Kentucky to get his PhD. He’s also looking at potential openings in the Dodgers and Athletics organizations. Whatever the next move is, one thing is certain: he is the only Pendleton County Wildcats with a diamond-studded championship ring.