​PHILADELPHIA — Tristan Peters’ path to his first MLB All-Star Game has included many stops along the way.One of those includes a brief 17-game stint at Historic Grayson Stadium, with a team whose owner wears a yellow tuxedo and top hat and whose players dance and do TikToks in the middle of games: the Savannah Bananas, of course.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSure, the Bananas when Peters played for them weren’t the Bananas of today, having taken over the baseball sphere with their Banana Ball antics. Jesse Cole’s team was still a summer college baseball team in the Coastal Plain League.MLB All-Star game starting lineups: Sanchez and Cease pitch, batting orderIt doesn’t matter to Peters, though, now an outfielder with the Chicago White Sox. He was still a Banana. And no, he isn’t tired of answering questions about his time in Savannah in the summer of 2021.”No, I look back very fondly,” Peters said Monday, July 13, at Citizens Bank Park ahead of the Midsummer Classic. “I think it really put the fun back in baseball because sometimes, especially in college, just trying to perform, you get focused on that. You’re not remembering that this is a game we’re blessed to be able to play.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWere there viral TikTok dances when Peters was in Banana Country as the Coles were building the “Harlem Globetrotters of Baseball”? Yes, Peters said he occasionally busted a move. But it was a fraction of what Bananas players do today — and yes, his White Sox teammates have found the videos.”They give me a hard time, but it’s all fun,” said Peters, who mentioned he played one game in the Banana Ball ‘s current format: a faster-paced format where entertainment is incorporated into the 11-rule, two-hour flat game.1 / 52Jordan Walker #18 of the St. Louis Cardinals competes in the finals of the 2026 Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park on July 13, 2026 in Philadelphia.(Emilee Chinn, Getty Images)Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh round out of Southern Illinois University Carbondale that same summer, Peters faced an uphill road to the majors. He was traded twice within a span of a few months in 2022, first from Milwaukee to the San Francisco Giants, then from the Giants to the Tampa Bay Rays, where he made his major league debut last season. His stint with the Rays was brief, however, as he appeared in just four games before being designated for assignment in December and subsequently traded to the White Sox.Fast forward to 2026, and Peters has taken on a starting role with the White Sox. But to get to the South Side of Chicago, Peters, like many minor leaguers, had his share of moments where he questioned whether reaching the big leagues would ever happen.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementREQUIRED READING: How Cristopher Sánchez has transformed into an All-Star Game starter and MLB ace”There’s so many, honestly,” Peters said. “I know when I got traded to the Giants, I had a really tough time adjusting to t