MLB Insider believes the Yankees’ Opening Day shortstop will be Oswald Peraza
The New York Yankees have one of the most intriguing roster battles in the middle infield this spring. Fighting for the Opening Day shortstop gig is Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who started 131 games at short last year, plus top prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza.
Though it appears Peraza might be the favorite to win the job, according to one MLB insider.
“Spending two days with the Yankees over the weekend on Friday and Saturday, I walked away basically having heard that (Oswald) Peraza is going to be the shortstop – unless something completely unforeseen happens – with IKF potentially being on the bench at the start of the year,” Buster Olney said on the “Baseball Tonight” podcast. “Maybe some team steps up and makes a trade for (Kiner-Falefa), and Volpe probably will start in the minor leagues.”
Peraza is currently 2-for-9 this spring with one stolen base. He had a cup of coffee as a September call-up with New York last year, appearing in 21 games while logging 57 plate appearances. He finished with a .306/409/.429 slash line (.832 OPS; 139 OPS+; 146 wRC+), three doubles, one home run, two RBIs and two stolen bases.
The 22-year-old shortstop was rock solid with Triple-A, too, adding a .259/.329/.448 with a 106 wRC+, tallying 16 doubles, 19 home runs, 50 RBIs and 33 stolen bases, including a .867 OPS and a 129 wRC+ in his final two months in the minors.
Though arguably Peraza’s most appealing tool in his tool shed is his defense. Here’s what FanGraphs has commented regarded his defense, which they grade as a 55/60 (present/future) on the 20-80 scale.
“He is sure-handed and slick, twitchy and acrobatic, wielding plus range, hands, actions and arm strength, FanGraphs writer Eric Longenhagen wrote. “His internal clock is precise and allows him to make fundamentally uncompromised throws to first with confidence because he knows he’s going to beat the runner there. He is quite comfortably the best defensive shortstop on the Yankees 40-man entering the 2023 season and likely to play there every day in the near future, producing on par with an average regular at the position.”
For the most part, Kiner-Falefa, who New York acquired ahead of the 2022 season, was not a productive shortstop, sporting a .642 OPS in 142 games. While Volpe’s impressed with the bat and glove this spring, he’s only played only 22 career games in Triple-A, so rushing up to the bigs wouldn’t make much sense, barring something unforeseen.
If he gets called up, Volpe could play second base behind Gleyber Torres if Peraza locks up the starting shortstop job.
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