What to expect from Everson Pereira in the Majors
With the current trying much less and fewer rosy, the Yankees are about to get a better view of their potential future.
New York is looking up No. 80 general prospect Everson Pereira to the Majors for the primary time on Tuesday, a supply confirmed to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. The transfer comes amid an eight-game shedding streak for the Yankees that has induced them to fall to 60-64, 9 ½ video games again of an American League Wild Card spot and in final place within the AL East.
The 22-year-old outfielder hit .291/.362/.545 with 10 homers and a 144 wRC+ in 46 video games for Double-A Somerset earlier this season and hadn’t skipped a beat after a July 4 promotion to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the place he produced a .312/.386/.551 line with eight homers and 130 wRC+ throughout 35 contests. Pereira’s .300 common, .548 slugging share, .921 OPS and 138 wRC+ on the season as a complete all ranked among the many prime 4 Yankees full-season qualifiers, whereas his 18 homers are tied for sixth-most within the farm system.
As the extra conventional stats point out, Pereira’s presence brings some spectacular pop to a pinstriped lineup that would actually use it. Entering Tuesday, Yankees hitters collectively ranked twenty second within the Majors with a .400 slugging share. Take away Aaron Judge’s complete bases and at-bats, and that falls to .386 – the identical team-wide SLG because the White Sox in twenty sixth.
There is impression behind the numbers for Pereira too. The right-handed slugger put 96 Triple-A balls in play as measured by Statcast, and 44 of them exceeded the hard-hit commonplace of 95 mph. Only Judge (64.4 p.c), Jake Bauers (50.4), Kyle Higashioka (48.3) and Giancarlo Stanton (47.4) have exceeded that 45.8 p.c hard-hit charge amongst Yankees with at the least 90 batted balls within the Majors this season. Pereira’s max exit velo with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was 114.5 mph – a quantity solely overwhelmed by Stanton (118.3) and Judge (116.9).
While the uncooked pop is actually there, Pereira might want to enhance each his contact and ground-ball charges.
Pereira whiffed on 17 p.c of his pitches seen with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, giving him the Twenty fourth-highest swinging-strike charge amongst 411 Triple-A batters with at the least 150 plate appearances in 2023. His 47.9 ground-ball share positioned 59th among the many identical group. That comes out of exhausting, aggressive hacks from the Venezuela native, who struggles particularly in opposition to breaking and offspeed stuff, however as his batting common has proved, stinging the ball exhausting with an A swing can nonetheless generate hits upon contact, even when the consequence rapidly reaches the infield grass.
Defensively, the Yankees have already said that Pereira will slot in at left area, the place the membership has used 9 totally different starters in 2023. The bulk of the prospect’s appears have are available that nook this season, however as a runner with barely above-average velocity, he’s additionally seen loads of time in heart and proper at Double-A and Triple-A. He has sufficient arm to play in proper area, however the necessity to rotate Judge and Stanton in that spot will probably preserve him away from there within the brief time period.
Added to the 40-man roster when he was first Rule 5-eligible in November 2021, Pereira each compelled the difficulty to succeed in the Bronx and benefited from a transparent lane for his providers. Having solely turned 22 in April, he’ll be the second-youngest Yankee hitter to look in a Major League sport this season, trailing Anthony Volpe by solely 18 days.
The stress on a bat so younger can’t be exceedingly excessive, however then once more, that is the Big Apple. Pereira’s highly effective efficiency or swing-and-miss-heavy methods may play a job in New York’s offseason plans as a company that notoriously would not do rebuilds.
