NEW YORK — Oswald Peraza spent parts of four seasons in the Yankees organization, signed as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela in 2016 and developed into one of their more celebrated infield prospects. He made his major league debut at Yankee Stadium in September 2022. On Tuesday night, he came back as a visitor and proceeded to tear the place apart.
Peraza went 3-for-3 with a solo home run and reached base in all four plate appearances, including a 12-pitch walk in his final at-bat, as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Yankees 7-1. It was his first game back at Yankee Stadium since the Yankees traded him to the Angels at last year’s deadline in exchange for international bonus pool money and outfield prospect Wilberson De Pena, who is now 19 years old.
For one night in The Bronx, Peraza looked like the player the Yankees once believed he could become.
Boone does not hold back: ‘He killed us’
The Yankees manager rarely speaks in blunt terms about individual opponent performances, but after watching Peraza smash pitch after pitch against multiple Yankees pitchers, Aaron Boone had nothing diplomatic to offer. Asked about Peraza after the game, he cut straight to it.
“He killed us,” Boone said. “Stung three balls and then works a 12-pitch walk in his last at-bat. He was right in the middle of hurting us tonight.”
Peraza’s damage was spread across the game and targeted several Yankees arms. In the second inning, he slapped a single to center field off Ryan Weathers, a ball that came off his bat at 110.1 mph. Two innings later he stayed back on a changeup low in the zone and drove it 396 feet to left field for a solo home run, his third of the season. The blast came on an 84.7-mph changeup and left his bat at 107.4 mph at a 20-degree launch angle, pushing the Angels ahead 4-0.
He was not done. In the sixth inning, Peraza singled off Paul Blackburn at 105 mph to left field. In the eighth, he dug in against newly recalled reliever Yerry De los Santos and worked the count through 12 pitches before drawing a walk.
From Yankees No. 2 prospect to a trade-deadline footnote
To understand the full weight of Tuesday night, it helps to remember where Peraza stood in the Yankees’ plans just a few years ago. He signed with the Yankees as an international amateur in 2016, worked through their system with a line-drive swing that attracted considerable attention, and by 2022 ranked as the club’s No. 2 prospect, sitting between No. 1 Anthony Volpe and No. 3 Jasson Dominguez.
He made his major league debut in September 2022 and hit well enough late that season to earn a start at shortstop for the Yankees in the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros. It seemed like a beginning.
It was not. Volpe outperformed him in spring training 2023 and locked up the everyday shortstop job. Peraza’s sporadic Yankees stints over the next two-plus seasons never produced the consistent offense needed to carve out a defined role. In 71 Yankees appearances in 2025 alone, he slashed just .152/.212/.241. The Yankees moved on at the July 31 deadline, shipping him to Anaheim.
Walking back into Yankee Stadium from the visitors’ side clearly carried some emotional weight. Peraza acknowledged the strangeness of the moment, but he was deliberate in his choice of words, keeping any complicated feelings out of his public remarks.
“A lot of good memories here,” Peraza said. “It’s weird to be on the other side. But it’s business, it’s baseball. Now I’m with the Angels and enjoy every day.”
Peraza credits adjusted stance for turnaround in 2026
The three-hit night was no accident. Through 16 games in 2026, Peraza was batting .267 with an .838 OPS, splitting time at second and third base for the Angels. That is a meaningful step up from where he was with the Yankees in 2025, and he pointed to specific mechanical work as the reason.
Peraza credited changes he made to his batting stance, saying the adjustments allow him to stay more composed and centered at the plate.
“More controlled with my body,” he said of the adjustment.
He also had kind words for the Yankees coaches who worked with him during his time in New York, even while his bat was doing the talking against them on the field.
“They’ve got a lot of good coaches, and they helped me every day,” Peraza said.
For the Yankees, Tuesday was not just a loss. It was a reminder. Jose Caballero, the infielder currently starting at shortstop while Anthony Volpe recovers from shoulder surgery, entered the game batting .170. Peraza, the infielder the Yankees let go, went 3-for-3 with a homer at their home park. The Yankees fell to 9-8 on the season. The Angels moved to the same record. The contrasts between the two clubhouses after the game were difficult to ignore.
What do you think? Did the Yankees give up on him without giving him a proper chance?
