Just a few weeks ago, Oswald Peraza was staring down the barrel of baseball’s cruelest fate—irrelevance. You could almost hear the countdown.
It’s the kind of limbo that haunts young players: too good for Triple-A, not quite steady enough for a big-league gig.
Peraza was rapidly drifting toward the shadows of the New York Yankees’ crowded infield picture, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Oswaldo Cabrera healthy and DJ LeMahieu gearing up for his return.
A utility infielder with shaky on-base skills and a reputation for not quite hitting enough? He looked expendable.
When the storm hits, depth becomes destiny
Then, baseball reminded everyone why no depth chart is safe. Chisholm strained his oblique and will miss weeks. Cabrera fractured his ankle.
Just like that, the Yankees were staring at a void in their infield and an empty space in the lineup.
Now? Peraza isn’t just a warm body. He’s a necessity. The player once dangling from the roster edge is back in the thick of it, rotating in with LeMahieu and rookie Jorbit Vivas, filling in wherever needed, with little room for failure.
In this moment of urgency, the Yankees need something they hadn’t banked on needing this soon: Oswald Peraza’s second chance.
Numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they whisper potential
Yes, Peraza’s slash line—.179/.258/.339 with a 70 wRC+—won’t quicken any pulses. It paints the picture of a fringe bat struggling to stay afloat in a sea of more consistent performers.
But dig a layer deeper, and the story begins to shift. Much like judging a book by its tattered cover, his surface stats don’t reflect the quality of his recent at-bats.
Expected stats tell a more hopeful tale. His current wOBA of .275 is discouraging, but his expected wOBA (xwOBA) sits at a far more optimistic .327, indicating better days may be ahead if he keeps making the kind of contact he has.
He’s not just swinging—he’s slugging
Peraza has added a little fire to his swing. Three doubles and two home runs might seem modest, but in limited playing time, it hints at growth.
Even more encouraging: he’s barreling the ball at a 10.3 percent rate, well above league average. His hard-hit rate has jumped to 38.5 percent—up from a career average of just 30.8 percent. That’s not just luck; that’s muscle meeting mechanics.
Think of him like a matchbox: small, unassuming, but capable of lighting something bigger if struck the right way. Peraza has the tools—now it’s about sparking the ignition consistently.
Defense and versatility: his steady allies
Through it all, his glove has never wavered. Peraza remains a plus defender, smooth on the field and capable across multiple positions.
That kind of defensive versatility is invaluable when the roster gets stretched thin, as it has for the Yankees now. It’s the unsexy trait that keeps you in the lineup when the bat goes cold.
It also buys time—time for the bat to catch up, for luck to even out, for Peraza to prove he belongs.
Yankees have no choice—now is Peraza’s time
With no clear replacement and trade options likely to come with a steep price tag, the Yankees are all but committed to riding this out internally.
That means Peraza will keep getting at-bats, keep fielding grounders, and keep playing nearly every day—because right now, they need him.
And perhaps that’s the most powerful shift of all: from being the guy they could afford to lose, to the guy they can’t do without.
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