Yankees fans who have been hoping to see the team play more of their top prospects are in luck.
After it was reported Monday night that the Yankees are calling up outfielder Everson Pereira (ranked as Yankees’ No. 3 prospect by MLB Pipeline) and infielder Oswald Peraza (who came into last season as the club’s No. 2 prospect), manager Aaron Boone confirmed the news, telling the Talkin’ Yanks podcast crew that both players will “be playing a lot.”
According to Boone, Pereira will start Tuesday night’s game against the Washington Nationals in left field. He also said that while Peraza will mostly play third base, he may also get some time at shortstop and second base on days that Anthony Volpe and Gleyber Torres don’t start.
Peraza, 23, has already gotten a small taste of action in the big leagues. He appeared in 18 games in 2022 and 19 games earlier this season while filling in for injured players. Overall, Peraza has slashed .238/.364/.307 with one home run, eight RBI, and five runs scored as a big leaguer.
Pereira, 22, will be making his MLB debut on Tuesday. Signed as an international prospect out of Venezuela in 2017, Pereira can play all three outfield spots and brings a combo of contact and power to the plate. Over his five years in the Yankees’ system, Pereira has slashed .279/.353/.501 with 56 homers and 205 RBI.
But even with this influx of young talent, Boone said that the team’s focus on winning and making a push for the playoffs doesn’t change.
“It doesn’t change for me and for us. We all want to win,” Boone said. “So the fact that some young guys are going to be up and definitely playing regularly doesn’t change what that goal is. It hasn’t been happening at a high enough level to this point, obviously, so we want to make that commitment to see if hopefully in the short term it jolts us and gets us more wins in the short term, but also allows us to look at some guys that have a chance to be key pieces in our future.
“The focus on how we go about it doesn’t change as far as we want to go out and win tonight. That’s the goal.”
Boone also hinted at the Yankees calling up more young players before the end of the season. While he didn’t specifically say Jasson Dominguez — recently promoted to Triple-A — would get the call to the majors, Boone did say that it’s “possible” that Dominguez is in the Bronx by the end of the year.