Quick thoughts after the Yankees call up Oswald Peraza

First Oswaldo, now Oswald. (Getty)

The September roster expansion period has arrived and the Yankees called up shortstop prospect Oswald Peraza on Thursday. Marwin Gonzalez was activated off the paternity list to fill the second extra roster spot, so the Yankees are rolling with 13 pitchers and 15 position players at the moment. The Yankees have announced the moves, so they’re official. Peraza is a big leaguer, and he will be the first player born in the 2000s to play for the Yankees. I am so very old.

Peraza, 22, hit .259/.329/.448 (106 wRC+) with 19 homers and a 23.3% strikeout rate in 99 Triple-A games this year, and it’s a much more impressive .291/.365/.511 (131 wRC+) line since June 1st. Like so many Yankees prospects this year, Peraza started slowly, then really picked up in a few weeks into the season. Here are a few quick thoughts on the call up as we await the Oswald-Oswaldo middle infield playing behind the Trivino-Trevino battery.

1. What’s his role? I assume the Yankees did not call up Peraza to sit him on the bench. When they like someone, they play him. Case in point: Oswaldo Cabrera. He’s started 12 of 13 games since being called up. Compare that to, say, Estevan Florial (or present day Miguel Andujar). The Yankees are always quick to send Florial to the bench or back down to Triple-A. Cabrera stayed in the lineup, even when he wasn’t hitting initially.

Peraza has played 10 games at second base and none at third base in Triple-A this season. Cabrera came up and took over right field despite little experience there in the minors, so perhaps Peraza will replace the ineffective Gleyber Torres at second (DJ LeMahieu has to play first base because Anthony Rizzo’s back is acting up, and he may miss the Rays series).

I think it’s more likely Peraza is coming up to play shortstop everyday. What that means for Isiah Kiner-Falefa, I don’t know, but shortstop is Peraza’s best and most familiar position, and I think the Yankees will play him there. And they should. Kiner-Falefa hasn’t been good and was always just a stopgap. Put Peraza at short full-time. I want it to happen and I think it will happen.

Also, Peraza’s role is not “savior.” Surely the Yankees hope he can give them a spark and production to help pull them out of this wretched slump, but the rookie isn’t going to save the day. Ultimately, the Yankees need LeMahieu, Rizzo, Torres, and Giancarlo Stanton to get their acts together to get to where they want to go. Unless that happens, it won’t matter what Peraza does. The kid is here to help, not single-handedly save the Yankees.

(The book on Peraza coming into the season said he struggled with spin, and if that’s still true, he might be a “homers and highlights” player this month, meaning the occasional dinger and flashy defensive play, with some ugly at-bats in between.)

2. What’s Kiner-Falefa’s role? Assuming Peraza takes over as the full-time shortstop, where does Kiner-Falefa fit in? I see four possibilities:

• Utility man: Kiner-Falefa played second and third bases earlier in his career (it’s been a while though), so he could move into a utility role and get semi-regular at-bats that way. Essentially the LeMahieu role while LeMahieu plays first base during Rizzo’s absence.
• Second base: Would the Yankees bench Torres and make Kiner-Falefa their starting second baseman? I hope not. Torres has been bad lately but Kiner-Falefa has been bad all year, and Gleyber at least gives you a chance at offensive impact.
• Third base: This seems less likely than second base. Josh Donaldson still provides top notch defense and the Yankees have treated him like a middle of the order hitter all year even though he’s not that anymore. Kiner-Falefa at third is possible, but unlikely.
• Benched: The Aaron Hicks treatment. Perhaps that error Wednesday was the last straw for Kiner-Falefa, the way the misplayed triple and 1-2-3 double play were the last straw for Hicks a few weeks ago.

My guess is it’ll be the first bullet point, with Kiner-Falefa getting semi-regular at-bats (enough to annoy us that he’s still playing so much) at different positions. Replacing Donaldson or even a slumping Torres seems unwise, and I’ll need to see an outright benching to believe it. The Yankees defend Kiner-Falefa in a way they didn’t defend Hicks prior to his benching.

(It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have Kiner-Falefa catch some bullpen sessions this month, just to prepare him to be an option as the third catcher. He’s caught 73 games in the big leagues but none since 2019, and the Yankees haven’t worked him out there at all this year. If Kiner-Falefa is moving into a reduced role, getting him reacquainted with catching is worthwhile. The added versatility is good for the Yankees and good for Kiner-Falefa too.)

3. Postseason eligibility. I’ve seen some confusion about this and just to clear it up, Peraza is 100% eligible for the postseason roster. If you don’t believe me, Bryan Hoch says so as well, and it wouldn’t be on MLB’s official site if weren’t true. Peraza has been on the 40-man roster all year and is thus eligible to be on the postseason roster. The timing of his call up is irrelevant.

Getting a non-40-man roster player on the postseason roster is a bit more tricky but it is doable. Those players can be added to the 40-man and called up in September, then replace an injured player who is out for the season* on the postseason roster. The catch is it must be a pitcher for pitcher, or position player for position player substitution. No mixing and matching.

* I’m not sure whether this is still the case, but MLB used to define “out for the season” as being on the injured list for at least 60 days prior to Sept. 1st, and then not playing again that season. That’s an older rule and it may no longer apply. I’m not sure.

The Orioles do not have an out for the season position player. They had to add top prospect Gunnar Henderson to the 40-man roster and call him up Wednesday, the day before rosters expanded, to ensure Henderson will be postseason-eligible. The Yankees didn’t have to do that with Peraza. He’s been on the 40-man all year.

Chad Green and Stephen Ridings give the Yankees two pitcher substitution spots (if the 60 days before Sept. 1st rule is still a thing, Mike King doesn’t qualify), so they’re okay there. They could call up, say, non-40-man prospect Will Warren later this month, and still finagle him onto the postseason roster. I’m not saying they will. Just using Warren as an example.

Unless Harrison Bader can’t make it back, the Yankees don’t have a position player substitution spot (Matt Carpenter doesn’t satisfy the “60 days prior to Sept. 1st” rule, assuming that’s still a thing). So as long as Bader makes it back, Anthony Volpe is not postseason-eligible. He’s not on the 40-man. Peraza is, so he’s postseason-eligible. There you go.

4. 13, not 14, pitchers. I spent all that time the other day trying to figure out which pitcher the Yankees will call up when rosters expanded, and the answer is none. They did not add a pitcher and effectively kept Tim Locastro around as the 15th position player (Locastro took Gonzalez’s spot when Marwin went on the paternity list, and is now sticking around).

There’s no way 13 pitchers and 15 position players is permanent. Aroldis Chapman and Nestor Cortes could be back as soon as next week, Luis Severino the week after that, and possibly Zack Britton some time after that. Assuming Peraza is here for good, then Locastro figures to go down for a pitcher when a spot is needed. I imagine Anthony Banda is next to go after that.

The Yankees only have two 40-man roster pitchers in the minors: Deivi Garcia, who’s been terrible the last two years, and Luke Bard, who can’t be called up until next week because of the 15-day waiting period. Adding a pitcher (Tyler Duffey? Ryan Weber?) would require a 40-man roster move and all that. The Yankees decided a 15th position player made more sense than a 14th pitcher for the time being, so that’s what they’re going with. Don’t expect it to last.

5. Volpe to Triple-A. Peraza was called up to the big leagues and Volpe was bumped up to Triple-A in a corresponding move. That’s a tough break for Double-A Somerset. They’re going to the playoffs (because Volpe hit a walk-off homer to clinch a spot) and their best player was just promoted. Jesus Bastidas, who is having a breakout power season, figures to slide over from second to short to replace Volpe (unless Trey Sweeney moves up to Double-A?).

The RailRiders have 25 games remaining and they’re still in the postseason race (three games out with three teams ahead of them), so Volpe gets to play about a month’s worth of important games in Triple-A. That’s good. Nice little challenge for him at the end of the season. I hoped the Yankees would call up Volpe rather than Peraza, but Peraza works too, and realistically a Volpe call up was never going to happen anyway. Volpe being promoted to Triple-A is the next best thing.

6. The PPI draft pick. I touched on this in this week’s mailbag and I might as well mention it again here. The timing of the call up means Peraza will remain eligible for a Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) draft pick in the future. Those are the extra picks teams now receive when they don’t manipulate service time.

The rookie limits are 45 days of service time and 130 at-bats, and Peraza won’t reach either. There are only 35 days left in the regular season (postseason doesn’t count toward service time) and he’d need to average 4.2 at-bats per game (not plate appearances, at-bats) the rest of the way to get to 130. That ain’t happening, so Peraza will still be rookie eligible next year. To create a PPI pick for the Yankees, Peraza must:

• Accrue a full year of service time in his rookie season.
• Appear on at least two of MLB.com’s, ESPN’s, and Baseball America’s top 100 prospect lists the spring of his rookie season (he’s on all of them now).
• Win Rookie of the Year, or finish top three in the MVP voting at any point prior to becoming arbitration-eligible.

A number of things must happen for Peraza to generate a PPI pick for the Yankees, but it is possible, and he will remain in position to do so. He won’t exhaust his rookie eligibility this month. (I’m not sure how much of a consideration this was in the timing of the call up.)

7. Why did Peraza play Thursday? And finally, why did Peraza play for Triple-A Scranton on Thursday? That was weird. The RailRiders had a doubleheader, Peraza started the first game at shortstop, struck out in his first at-bat, homered in his second at-bat (video), then was pulled from the game and promoted. Weird! Usually players who are being promoted don’t play in the minors that day because the team doesn’t want to risk injury or whatever.

I choose to believe the Yankees went to Peraza before the game, jokingly told him they would call him up if he hit a home run, and he called their bluff. Sorta like when a high school friend of mine told me he’d give me $100 if I hit a half-court shot when we were hanging out in the park and I freaking did it (I absolutely suck at basketball, it was a miracle shot), and he never paid me because he said he was joking. I’m not still bitter, why do you ask? Obviously this didn’t happen with Peraza, but I like to pretend it did.

This isn’t a big deal or anything, it’s just unusual Peraza started a Triple-A game, then got pulled and was called up to the big leagues. Maybe he had a late flight to Tampa and had nothing else to do, so he got a few extra at-bats. Dunno.

(Send your requests for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for when it returns.)