The New York Yankees called up star prospect Oswald Peraza on Thursday immediately after he hit his 19th homer of the Triple-A season with Scranton.
Expectations were that Peraza would start immediately on Friday at shortstop, putting pressure on Isiah Kiner-Falefa. However, manager Aaron Boone has a different idea of how the team will utilize Peraza moving forward, crushing any hopes that he would take over defensively for the struggling shortstop.
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“We’ll see. He’ll get some opportunities, but I don’t want to put any undue expectations on him. This is a great opportunity for him to get up here and be in this environment.”
Via Bryan Hoch of MLB Network
In fact, Boone indicated that Peraza won’t even be playing short but rather earn opportunities at second base. Peraza played in 748.2 innings at shortstop the season for Scranton and 84 at second across 10 games.
The Bombers hope to get Peraza involved soon, potentially tomorrow but it seemed as if his opportunities will be more sporadic than previously thought.
“We’ll just try to keep it fluid and probably try and maybe get him in there tomorrow. But we’re trying to win. Hopefully he can be a part of that.”
The Yankees continue their undying support of IKF:
Boone continues to support Kiner-Falefa, who gave up a terrible error against the Los Angeles Angels several days ago, providing Shohei Ohtani with an opportunity to take the lead. Ohtani did just that, launching a three-run homer that ended up being the game-winning play.
“Izzy is such a big part of what we’re doing, and I expect him to continue to be right in the middle of everything we’re doing.”
Peraza has been fantastic over the last few months for Scranton. In fact, in his last 90 days, he features a .294 average with a 36.5% on-base rate, a .518 slugging percentage, with 14 homers and 35 RBIs.
Given Peraza’s slugging metrics, his impact could be significant when given the opportunity. However, it seems as if they will ease him into action and his presence won’t affect the playing time of IKF.