Jorbit

Vivas

Vivas was called up leading into the weekend series against the Orioles, but he didn’t make an appearance. The 23-year-old will hope to earn another opportunity during the second half.

Vivas was hitting .258 with five home runs and 19 RBI at Triple-A while splitting time between second and third base. It’s unclear how the Yankees might deploy Vivas. This might not be good news for DJ LeMahieu, who fouled a ball off his neck on Wednesday and was out of the lineup on Thursday.

Vivas never really had a chance to make the Opening Day roster with Gleyber Torres still on the team, but there’s a chance he could fight for that second base position if New York decides to let go of Torres following the 2024 season.

Peraza entered last year’s spring training as the favorite to win the Yankees starting shortstop job but lost out to Anthony Volpe, who had a tremendous spring. Since then, Peraza shifted to playing third base, where he certainly has the arm to stick, but the bat has not been consistent in the majors so far. Something Aaron Boone mentioned. “He has ability and the tools to do it. It’s that last step that can be challenging. Triple A is one thing. Doing it on a consistent basis at the big leagues is another layer.” Boone mentioned that Peraza was battling with Oswaldo Cabrera, Kevin Smith, Jeter Downs, Jorbit Vivas, and Josh VanMeter for the final infield spot on the Opening Day roster.

That the Yankees have declined to add a veteran utilityman makes Vivas, who turns 23 next week a threat to win a roster spot, though he’d certainly benefit from playing regularly in Triple-A for a spell after just debuting at that level late last season. It’s still quite possible the Yankees will grab a reserve infielder prior to Opening Day.

The Yankees might still want to go out and get a veteran utilityman, and even if they don’t, Vivas would still face long odds to make the team at age 23. Still, the former Dodgers prospect is a fine all-around player, and he could be in the mix at second base in 2025 if the Yankees decline to re-sign Gleyber Torres.

The Dodgers needed to clear two spots on the 40-man roster for Joe Kelly and Shohei Ohtani, so they dealt two players on the 40-man roster - González and Vivas - for one who isn’t. Sweeney was the 8th-ranked prospect in the Yankees system, according to MLB Pipeline. The 23-year-old shortstop was the 20th overall pick in the 2021 draft, and he hit .252/.367/.411 in Double-A last year with 13 home runs and 20 steals. While Vivas is the more advanced hitter at the moment, Sweeney has plus raw tools and the potential to grow into more power which will make him a solid starting infielder at the big league level. Given that the Dodgers don’t have room in their current MLB lineup and are loaded with INF prospects like Michael Busch, it could be a couple years before we see Sweeney crack the Dodgers’ MLB roster.

Vivas is a high contact rate hitter with an 81 percent contact rate and a career 15.4 percent minor league strikeout rate. In 612 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023, Vivas posted a .269/.381/.407 triple slash with 13 home runs and 25 stolen bases. He likely won’t be more than a 10 home run hitter at the major league level, but Vivas is a solid defender at both second base and third base and profiles as a high floor utility infielder who has more real-life value than fantasy value.

Both González and Vivas were on the 40-man roster, and the Dodgers needed to clear two roster spots for Shohei Ohtani and Joe Kelly. González is a 28-year-old reliever who pitched to a 4.01 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 33 2/3 innings last year with a 30/10 K/BB ratio. Victor González had a 2.70 ERA during the Dodger’s 2020 playoff run that ended in a World Series win. He has an elite 58.1 percent career ground ball rate and induces a lot of to weak contact while holding lefties to a .209 batting average and .282 slugging percentage in his career. He has three years of team control with one MiLB option left and is projected to make $1M in 2023.

The 22-year-old infielder held his own in Cactus League action, hitting .278 (5-for-18) with five RBI and a stolen base. He’s likely to begin the season at Double-A Tulsa after slashing a robust .312/.396/.496 with 14 homers over 477 plate appearances between Low-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes during the 2022 season.