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TAMPA, Fla. — Coming off a disappointing West Coast swing, the Yankees will provide shortstop Oswald Peraza with an opportunity to spark their drive toward the postseason, beginning with this weekend’s series against the Rays at Tropicana Field.
The Yankees announced on Thursday that they are promoting the 22-year-old Peraza as one of their September callups. Peraza is rated as the Yanks’ No. 3 prospect by MLB Pipeline. He’s No. 53 on the Top 100 Prospects list.
Peraza hit his 19th home run of the season on Thursday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the first game of a doubleheader. He was removed from the game after four innings, receiving congratulatory hugs in the RailRiders’ dugout from his teammates.
Set to become the first Yankees big leaguer born in this millennium (June 15, 2000), Peraza is touted for an enticing blend of power at the plate, speed on the basepaths and smooth glovework in the infield.
In 99 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season, Peraza has slashed .259/.329/.448 with 57 runs scored, 16 doubles, 19 homers and 50 RBIs, all while stealing 33 bases in 38 attempts. He has walked 34 times against 100 strikeouts.
Since Peraza was on the Yankees’ 40-man roster prior to Thursday, he would be eligible for inclusion on any of the team’s postseason rosters.
A product of Venezuela, Peraza signed with the Yankees in July 2016 for $175,000. His breakout season was 2021, when he reached Triple-A while slashing .297/.356/.477 with 18 homers and a system-best 38 steals in 115 games.
New York was off on Thursday after dropping four of seven games to the Athletics and Angels. Shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa committed a costly error in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s 3-2 loss at Angel Stadium, setting up Shohei Ohtani’s pivotal three-run homer off Gerrit Cole.
A division lead that once stood at 15 1/2 games has been trimmed to just six, coming off a 10-18 August that marked the franchise’s weakest showing since September 1991.
With rosters expanding from 26 to 28 players, the Yankees also announced on Thursday that they are reinstating utility player Marwin Gonzalez from the paternity list. Gonzalez was absent for the three-game series against the Angels.