Why the Yankees remain high on Oswald Peraza, Spencer Jones hot start and more

When Oswald Peraza was told he wasn’t making the Yankees out of spring training camp, he was given the opportunity to have an off day to get his mind right. He declined. The day after Anthony Volpe was named the team’s starting shortstop, Peraza was at the Yankees’ player development complex with no fanfare starting his path back to The Bronx.
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“He wanted to get back in the cage,” Yankees minor league hitting coordinator Joe Migliaccio said. “He wanted to get back in the training room and just get to work. And I think it’s a testament to the person that he is along with the incredible talent that he is. The dude works his tail off. Anytime he’s presented with something that we think can help him be better, he’s open to it.
“There’s all this talk about Peraza not making the team. The guy’s just over 22 years old. He does so many things really well and he’s gonna be a huge part of our team.”
With Josh Donaldson expected to return from his minor hamstring injury soon, Peraza’s chances for more playing time with the Yankees may be limited. In Thursday’s 9-3 win over the Angels, Peraza had two RBI and two defensive plays that showed off his range in the middle infield.
Leather weather. pic.twitter.com/8QWEiWuFDG
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 20, 2023
Peraza has nothing left to prove at the Triple A level after his 2022 season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre where he hit 19 homers, stole 33 bases and had a .777 OPS. But when the Yankees chose Volpe and with a logjam in the infield, Peraza has been on the fringe between Triple A and the majors even though he was one of the team’s most impressive prospects last season.
“He was making phenomenal swing decisions,” Migliaccio said. “He was making better than average contact and his contact quality was in a really good place as well. When Peraza went up to the big leagues last year, the adjustments we saw was he kind of limited contact quality, but the swing decisions were maintained at an elite level. His miss in zone got even better so it increased by 6 percent. His miss in zone in the big leagues last year was only 10 percent.
“Looking at that, it’s like this player has an unbelievable skill set. He’s got the ability to hit double-digit homers if he wants to, but in his back pocket, there’s a safety net of just needing to make contact to get the next guy up. He knows that when he’s up in the big leagues, he doesn’t have to feel overwhelmed or overmatched because the preparation he’s doing is coupling both of those skills together.”
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Here are more notes on some of the Yankees’ other top prospects:
Jones’ hot start
The Yankees’ 2022 first-round pick started his season with High-A Hudson Valley after spending his first year in the system with Low-A Tampa. Spencer Jones, who’s the Yankees’ No. 7 prospect according to Keith Law’s rankings, has raked with Hudson Valley after undergoing a slight mechanical change to his swing.
With Tampa last season, Jones started in the batter’s box with his hands farther away from his body and the barrel of his bat pointed vertically. The Yankees have changed that this season by pulling his hands closer to his body and flattening his barrel in order to improve his connection as he started getting into the rotation of his swing.
Here’s what his setup looked like with Tampa last season:
Leadoff homer for Spencer Jones (@spencerjnes), giving the @TampaTarpons an early 1-0 lead in the 1st. No Statcast data, but it landed in the RF berm pic.twitter.com/dJSHkD9AEf
— John Brophy (@jbrophybaseball) August 25, 2022
And here’s what it looks like this year with Hudson Valley:
Welcome to High-A, Spencer Jones!
The first hit of the season for the Renegades is a MONSTER Homerun to dead center 🤯 pic.twitter.com/d2CgVHgHwW
— Hudson Valley Renegades (@HVRenegades) April 7, 2023
Through 10 games with Hudson Valley, Jones has three home runs. It’s the same total he had in 22 games with Tampa last season.
“We were looking to help Spencer elevate the baseball just a little bit more and that’s what he’s doing a lot better this year,” Migliaccio said. “When we look at when he’s hitting a ball hard compared to last year when he was with the Tarpons, his launch angle when he hit a ball over 95 miles an hour was only 4.2 degrees. What we’ve seen this year, his launch angle when he hits a ball over 95 miles an hour has been 13.3 degrees. That’s been a really positive trend for him.
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“If we get more into the weeds, we’re seeing more line drives, we’re seeing 20 percent less groundballs and we’re seeing a higher fly ball rate. So he’s doing a really good job of continuing to hit the ball hard. But now he’s just hitting it in the air. Look, I’m not sure the number I’m about to say is sustainable or not, but his current hard-hit rate right now is 75 percent, which is out of this world. So if he could keep that up, it would be incredible. I wouldn’t put it past him. But I anticipate that to come down just a little bit. But even if it comes down a little bit, it’s still gonna be in that elite category. He’s the combination of a guy that has power and he has high contact skills. And when you have those guys that can do both of those together, it’s a really special player.”
Domínguez’s slow start
Jasson Domínguez, the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect, was one of the most impressive players in spring training. Because he had very limited experience in Double A, there wasn’t a realistic path for him to make the Yankees out of camp but he left quite the impression on the big-league team. That hasn’t carried over into Double-A Somerset’s start so far. In 10 games, Domínguez is 3-for-37 with 16 strikeouts. As with all of the players mentioned here, it’s a small sample size — the numbers can drastically change with one good game.
TO MARS!👽@Yankees No. 2 prospect Jasson Dominguez launches his first home run of the 2023 season to tie up the game in the 7th. pic.twitter.com/OD8I0GMvfZ
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 19, 2023
“I think at this point in the season we’re really just looking for what his trends are telling us,” Migliaccio said. “Is he getting lucky? Is he getting unlucky? Is he expanding the zone? Is he not expanding the zone? So when we dive into it a little bit deeper, with just his time in Double A, his out-of-zone chase rate is still really good. His out-of-zone chase rate with two strikes is really, really good. And he’s also swinging in zone at a really high rate. So he’s doing a good thing in terms of what pitches he’s swinging at and what pitches he’s not swinging at. I think it’s been documented pretty well at this point but as he’s moved up levels, his swing decisions have gotten better. We’re continuing to see really good trends there.”
Domínguez has struggled to make quality contact so far. His line drive rate is hovering around 5 percent while his fly ball rate is at 57 percent. Mechanically, Migliaccio said he doesn’t see anything wrong with Domínguez’s swing and he’s not concerned about his start.
“I’d be pretty shocked if we get to the end of the season or we get to a third of the season or halfway through and that’s still a single digit,” Migliaccio said. “I chalk that one up to just an early season sample being low. When he’s making contact, he’s still hitting it hard. He’s doing a really good job on the pitches he should be swinging at so I anticipate those numbers trending in a good direction soon.”
Sweeney’s ability
Trey Sweeney is another shortstop prospect with nowhere near the level of hype that Volpe or Peraza have. If he were to remain in the Yankees’ system, it’s possible he ends up getting moved to third base in order for him to rise quicker to the big leagues, with Volpe and Peraza the potential future pairing at short and second. So far, the Yankees have exclusively played him at short in Double A.
IT'S AN 8-RUN 8TH INNING!@Yankees No. 7 prospect Trey Sweeney's third hit of the game caps the big inning for the Patriots. pic.twitter.com/BQ1piquVKy
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 19, 2023
Through his first 10 games this season, Sweeney is hitting .293/.375/.439 while striking out in 22 percent of his at-bats.
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“The guy can absolutely hit,” Migliaccio said. “I think that’s what’s really exciting about him is when you think about pure hitter — he’s not a power guy looking to make more contact or a contact guy looking to make more power. The guy is a pure hitter. When we look deeper into him, he’s missing at an 11 percent rate, which is better than he did last year. The year before he was at 15 percent. He’s striking out almost 10 percent less. I think what’s also cool is he’s doing that and his hard-hit rate is up over 10 percent this year compared to what it was last year. This guy has the ability to do really above-average things in just about every single category across the board, which makes him a really exciting piece of the lineup.”
Chaparro’s power
Andrés Chaparro started this season 0-for-29 in Triple A. Since then, he’s 13-for-30. Chaparro showed his power in spring training and that’s continued in Scranton. He’s tied for the team lead with six homers.
Migliaccio said the reason for the surge is Scranton’s staff realized that about 10 percent of Chaparro’s pregame routine was going into swing decisions. Each player has different percentages of what they might need to work on, ranging from swing decisions, swing mechanics, pitch recognition or whatever else a hitter might be struggling with. For Chaparro, the area that needs the most focus was swing decisions. Since they started working on that more, he’s been one of the hottest hitters in the system.
“Historically, he’s gotten better year over year with elevating the baseball a little bit more,” Migliaccio said. “Two years ago in Hudson Valley, he had a 41 percent ground ball rate. When he went up to Double A last year, that went down to 37 percent. We saw his fly ball rate increase 10 percent from High A to Double A. The big thing for him has just been to keep his posture behind the baseball. If he can be in a position where he’s behind the baseball and he’s just able to elevate it over the infielders’ heads, it’s going to end up over the outfielders’ heads a lot of the time as well.”
Pereira’s struggles
Since signing with the Yankees for $1.5 million in 2017, Everson Pereira has struggled to stay healthy. Before last season, he had played just 108 professional games and had under 500 at-bats. If he can stay healthy and continue gaining development, there’s potential for him to be a special hitter in the big leagues.
A two-run double by @Yankees No. 6 prospect Everson Pereira breaks the ice and puts us up in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/hOkwP1bP9f
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 20, 2023
“It’s some of the fastest hand speed and some of the fastest bat speed I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Migliaccio said of Pereira’s skill set. “When that guy hits BP, regardless of the other players in the group or whether it’s our top prospects, talking with scouts that are there in attendance, it almost seems like everything stops when he hits BP. It’s just different.”
The Yankees still have to cut down on Pereira’s strikeouts. He’s struck out at a 44 percent clip in his 41 at-bats so far. Migliaccio said they’re working on some bat path adjustments with Pereira that could be a difference-maker for him. He’s got potential to be a mid-20s to low-30s home run hitter but the contact rates will have to improve in order for him to get a chance in the big leagues one day.
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Note on Wells
Austin Wells was shut down in spring training with a fractured rib and has yet to make his season debut with Double A. He’ll start taking live at-bats later this week and could begin his 2023 season at some point in May.
(Photo of Oswald Peraza: Elsa / Getty Images)
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