Tristan Peters once played for the Savannah Bananas.
He’s now an All-Star outfielder for the Chicago White Sox.
Generally speaking, that doesn’t seem like a logical pipeline.
The Bananas, of course, are the now world-famous touring baseball team that puts an entertainment spin on the sport.
The White Sox are, well, a Major League Baseball team, a franchise that has existed for more than a century in MLB.
While both sides of the game have their merit, they usually aren’t connected quite this closely.
But the Bananas are a part of Peters’ story, and it’s quite the story.
Tristan Peters Played for Savannah Bananas
Peters was a kid from Canada who attended a couple of junior colleges and needed a summer league team in 2021. He went to Savannah.
At that point, the Bananas weren’t yet a touring group. They played in the Coastal Plain League. But they were already trying to do things differently.
A story in the Tampa Bay Times in 2025 shares that Peters wore a kilt and dance to Britney Spears songs between innings.
“It was way out of character,” Peters told the Tampa Bay Times for that story. “I had to really get out of my shell, But I think that honestly built my confidence up a lot, too, as a player and a person.”
Peters didn’t stick around for the massive growth that now has the Bananas selling out football stadiums.
That wasn’t the plan. Peters was there for summer baseball, to improve his game. At the time, the extra part was just part of what came with it.
Soon enough, the “extra stuff” became the show.
“I love it,” Peters told the Tampa Bay Times. “It’s great. I think it’s awesome, especially for the younger kids and stuff like that. I love how they interact with fans and stuff. You could see that it was something special when I was playing, but it’s crazy how fast it blew up.”
Tristan Peters Since the Bananas
Peters ended up being a seventh-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. His last baseball played prior to affiliate ball was with the Bananas, between his final college season at Southern Illinois-Carbondale and him joining the Brewers’ rookie ball team in Arizona.
For what it’s worth, Peters hit .320 with the Bananas. That followed his .355 average at SIU to get him a draft selection.
Peters then proceeded to be traded a couple of times in short order.
In August 2022, the Brewers traded him to the Giants for Trevor Rosenthal.
Then in November 2022, the Giants traded Peters to the Rays for Brett Wisely.
Peters made it to the majors for four games with the Rays in 2025 but went 0-for-12. They sold his contract to the White Sox in the offseason.
And in Chicago, Peters took off. He played in 156 games, hit .265 with a .774 OPS, doubled 31 times, tripled four times, homered 12 times and stole 8-of-10 bases attempted.
Peters played the majority of his games in centerfield, where he had a positive score in the Defensive Runs Saved metric.
He doesn’t wear a kilt anymore. Peters simply grabs attention with the fact that he plays the game of baseball really well.
How White Sox OF Tristan Peters Went From Savannah Bananas to MLB All-Star