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The New York Yankees’ infield might see some changes soon because two of their important players are getting ready to come back after being injured. This could mean one of the current starters, who has been playing third base, might lose his spot.
Third base has been a tricky position for the Yankees lately. This all started when Oswaldo Cabrera, who usually plays there, hurt his ankle and had to sit out. Since then, Oswald Peraza has been filling in as the starting third baseman. But here’s the problem: Peraza hasn’t been doing well when he’s batting. His hitting stats are pretty low, which means he hasn’t helped the team score enough runs.
According to some sports reporters like Greg Joyce and Andrew Wright, Giancarlo Stanton, a big star for the Yankees, is close to coming back. When Stanton returns, Peraza might lose his spot on the team to make room for him. Wright wrote that Yankees fans have been waiting for Peraza, who was once considered a top prospect, to improve and become a strong player, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Right now, Peraza’s batting average is only .165 (that means he gets a hit only about 16.5% of the time), and he has hit only three home runs in 79 times at bat. His overall hitting score, called OPS, is just .583, which is not very good.
The Yankees seem to be preparing for Peraza’s possible exit. They announced that Jazz Chisholm Jr., another player recovering from injury, will be playing third base during his rehab games. If Chisholm does well and comes back to the team, Peraza might be out even before Stanton returns. The Yankees also brought up Jorbit Vivas to help when Chisholm got injured again.
Vivas hasn’t played much better than Peraza, but he has been sharing some time at second base with DJ LeMahieu. Still, Vivas could improve and prove he deserves to stay. On the other hand, Peraza has shown the team over many games that he’s struggling a lot.
When Stanton and Chisholm are both back, the Yankees will have to make room for them. While Vivas might keep his spot, Peraza will need to get a lot better very quickly if he wants to stay on the team. After playing 109 games in the big leagues, Peraza has not given the Yankees much reason to keep him around. It looks like the team might be ready to move on without him.