Tristan Peters took the scenic route from Winkler, Man., to the South Side of Chicago.

Once he arrived, the 26-year-old blossomed into an All-Star in his rookie season this year with the White Sox and established himself as a key contributor to their postseason push.

But first came baseball’s minor league system. And before that a stint with the barnstorming Savannah Bananas. And before that college teams in Illinois and Arizona. And before that club ball in Winkler with his first coach: his dad, Pastor Jake Peters.

“Sometimes I wonder how we did it,” said Jake, a longtime youth baseball coach in the community and lead pastor of Winkler Mennonite Church, after being a youth pastor during Tristan’s childhood. “We have four boys, and they were all active in hockey and baseball, and there’s a lot of Sunday games, and we were traveling in multiple towns.

“I just believe this was the Lord’s providence for his work. It’s amazing how often we made it to church on Sunday morning. I would say we were there 70 to 80% of the time, and with youth work I was at church with my kids every Wednesday.”

The family also benefited by having some coaches who were insistent on doing devotions before baseball games.

“At home we made it a priority to have devotions even if we couldn’t make it on Sundays,” he said. “At the end of the day, it starts at home before it starts at church. I was a youth pastor long enough to realize that too many parents expected youth ministry to be where they learned about Jesus. Well, an hour a week doesn’t do it. It has to be your whole life, and that’s what I see in Tristan. I think he has taken it a step further and said Christ is first and baseball is just a part of that.”

Jake said his son is not specifically a member of Winkler Mennonite, but he does embrace Anabaptist theological values and culture.

AW worked with the White Sox to arrange an interview with Tristan, but the schedules didn’t align by the print deadline.

Manitoba is hockey country, and Peters is only the fifth player from the province to reach the major leagues.

The journey began on the small-town fields of Winkler and transitioned to Alberta when he moved there to live with an aunt and pursue baseball more seriously.

“I was just trying to get him a college scholarship,” Jake said, adding that the major leagues were a distant dream, similar to that shared in many families. “I thought right away he had a lot of talent.”

Tristan’s time in Alberta led to Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona, the state where he met his wife and was baptized, then Southern Illinois University. In 2021 he played 17 games with the Savannah Bananas, early in that team’s transition from a collegiate league team into an entertainment juggernaut with stunts and modified rules.

The Milwaukee Brewers drafted him 207th overall later that summer. He worked his way up through four levels of the minor league system, getting traded in 2022 to the San Francisco Giants and then to the Tampa Bay Rays. He made his MLB debut in August 2025 with the Rays, appearing in four games and going hitless in 12 plate appearances.

The rays sent him to the White Sox in the offseason. He worked hard through the winter and made an impression in spring training. He exploded out of the gate and has appeared in nearly every game for Chicago this season as a solid hitter and defensive anchor in center field. His .323 batting average in the first half of the season contributed to him being named an All Star, the first former Banana to receive the honor.

“It’s been surreal, I don’t know how else to describe it,” Jake said. “I talked to him in spring training; they just had a baby, and we were all kind of thinking they’ll go to [Chicago’s AAA minor league affiliate] Charlotte, with an opportunity midseason. So it’s really been unexpected for my wife Gabi and myself.”

Tristan’s success has attracted plenty of attention, even at Winkler Mennonite Church, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s converted local fans away from MLB’s only Canadian team over in Toronto.

“Most of them are Blue Jays fans, and most of them say they are a Tristan Peters fan, and then there are some that hope he’s traded to the Blue Jays,” Jake said. “There’s a lot of new baseball fans in our community. It’s been interesting how many people came up to me and say, ‘I don’t follow baseball, but I’m a fan now.’ ”

Pretty good for a rookie

Among personal milestones and ­notable feats this season, Tristan Peters:

⚾ Hit his first grand slam June 26 against the Kansas City Royals.

⚾ Hit for the cycle — a single, double, triple and home run in one game — on July 10, becoming the third player in MLB history to do so by getting two of the hits in the same inning.

⚾ Was named to the American League All-Star team July 11, replacing the Athletics’ Nick “Big Amish” Kurtz, who grew up in Lancaster, Pa.

⚾ Hit a walk-off home run Aug. 23 against the New York Mets using a yellow “banana bat” (in a nod to his Savannah Banana days) with the initials of his wife and child on the barrel.

⚾ Homered in five straight games Aug. 22-26, tying the MLB record for consecutive games with a home run by a rookie. The five-game stretch placed him alongside Babe Ruth as the only players with at least 10 hits, a home run in each game, ­multiple doubles, multiple walks and a stolen base in a five-game span.

⚾ Fouled off 12 pitches and drew an 18-pitch walk — the longest plate appearance by an MLB player in six years — Sept. 14 against the Cleveland Guardians.