Western Nevada College baseball fans who saw DJ Peters play for the Wildcats nearly a decade ago couldn’t help but recognize his determination and resiliency to succeed.

Those qualities are still on display as the former Major League Baseball player tries to work his way back into the big leagues by reversing his role.

Peters, 28, signed a minor-league deal in early February with the Texas Rangers — a team he swatted 12 homers for three years ago. Despite Peters’ propensity to hit home runs for the Rangers in 2021, they are grooming him as a pitcher.

He’ll start the season with the Round Rock Express, the Rangers’ Triple A club in the Pacific Coast League.

Last year, Peters spent most of the season pitching for the Detroit Tigers’ Florida League team. While his numbers weren’t impressive — a 6.23 earned run average in 21 2/3 innings as he worked on locating his pitches, he did strike out 24 hitters.

Peters played on WNC’s last two baseball teams in 2015 and was the Scenic Conference Most Valuable Player in the latter season. He made a steady climb through the Los Angeles Dodgers’ minor league system after being selected in the fourth round in 2016. He played several weeks for the 2020 World Series champion Dodgers before he was reassigned and claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers. After showcasing his skills for the second half of the 2021 season in Texas, he went on to play half of a season in Korea.

Round Rock is scheduled to play in Sacramento on June 18-23 and in Reno on July 9-14.