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PHILADELPHIA — As the trade deadline nears, scouts will be keeping an eye on Oswald Peraza, the Yankees prospect who was promoted from High-A Hudson Valley to Double-A Somerset this week.
There’s no doubt Peraza, who will turn 21 on Tuesday, could someday help in The Bronx, but with the Yankees still in third place in the AL East, the shortstop will draw interest from teams looking for talent in the farm system if the Yankees make a move to add major league talent.
Peraza was bumped up to Double-A after just 28 games at High-A, something he said was a target of his prior to the season.
“I wanted to dominate and spend just the first month [at High-A],’’ Peraza said through an interpreter on Friday, before he was set to play his fourth game with Somerset, where he was reunited with manager Julio Mosquera, his manager two years ago at Class-A Charleston.
“He’s an exciting young player with a lot of talent and a lot of tools,’’ Mosquera said. “He’s going to have a promising career.”
“He’s pretty polished,’’ said one scout who has seen him play this season.
Mosquera called Peraza a “tremendous athlete.”
Not surprisingly, the Yankees intend to keep Peraza at shortstop at Somerset, where he’s the youngest player on the team.
Peraza got time at major league camp with the Yankees this spring and worked with infield coach Carlos Mendoza and hitting coach Marcus Thames — as well as Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela.
Whether he will join any of them in The Bronx remains to be seen.
The Yankees have been waiting for other top prospects, such as right-hander Deivi Garcia and outfielder Estevan Florial, to make that final step to the majors, but they remain works in progress.
Because last year’s minor league season wiped out due to COVID, Peraza was among the hundreds of players whose development was stalled.
He still has been able to add some power to his game, with five homers at Hudson Valley already a milestone.
Peraza, listed at 6-foot and 165 pounds, said he talked to the organization last offseason about his launch angle, since he “had a tendency to hit a lot of balls on the ground.”
And Peraza continues to provide stellar defense.
Now the Yankees have to determine if that better serves them in their minor league system or somewhere else as they try to get on track this year.
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