ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Oswald Peraza is finally comfortable again.
After experimenting with different swings while he was with the New York Yankees, the Angels infielder said he’s back to doing what he did in the minors.
And now there’s no reason to stop.
“I hit with a leg kick my whole career in the minor leagues, but the last couple years, I was trying the toe touch,” Peraza said. “Now, I can control my body more behind the ball. I see the difference.”
Peraza returned to his leg kick over the winter, and now he’s two months into a breakout season. Peraza came into Sunday’s game hitting .277 with seven homers and an .806 OPS. Prior to this season, he had hit .189 with a .542 OPS.
At the start of the season, the Angels were playing Peraza primarily against lefties, because his numbers against righties were significantly worse.
Lately, though, he’s been smoothing that out.
Including a homer on Saturday, Peraza has eight hits in his last 22 at-bats (.364) against right-handed pitchers. For the season, he’s up to .258 with a .708 OPS against righties, compared with .306 and .951 against lefties.
Peraza said he’s been working on handling breaking balls from right-handers in the cage, and that’s paid dividends in games.
It also helps to simply play every day, an opportunity he hadn’t gotten this extent previously.
“The big leagues is hard,” Peraza said. “Everybody throws 98. When you play every day you have a lot of opportunity to make adjustments. I feel my confidence is 100% now.”
BACK IN THE LINEUP
Shortstop Zach Neto and third baseman Nick Madrigal were both in the starting lineup on Sunday, after leaving Saturday’s game with injuries.
Neto hurt his neck on a home-plate collision. Madrigal was hit in the face by a pitch, requiring some stitches.
“It was a definitely a pretty good collision,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “I think watching it on TV made it even look even worse. I knew he was going to be sore today, but he was like ‘I’m good.’ And I said, ‘Are you sure?’ He said, ‘Yeah. Put me in the lineup,’ I said, ‘Alright.’ The same with Madrigal. They both wanted to play today, so I put them in there.”
Neto and Jo Adell have started all 60 games. Neto had not even missed an inning in the field until the end of Saturday’s game.
“I give (Neto) a day off when he wants one,” Suzuki said. “That’s kind of how I want to play it. I told him that in the beginning. I said ‘Hey, you tell me when you want a day off.’ Obviously there are times when I talk to him about it, see how he feels and stuff. But if he wants to play, he’s going to play.”
NOTES
Right-hander Alek Manoah pitched on Saturday night for Triple-A Salt Lake, the first time he’d pitched in a minor league game in nearly two weeks since he was optioned from the big league roster. Manoah gave up four runs in 2⅓ innings. Manoah was outrighted, so he’s no longer on the 40-man roster. …
The Angels sent right-hander José Soriano back to Southern California on Saturday, in preparation for his start on Monday. …
Left-hander Reid Detmers, right-hander Jack Kochanowicz and Soriano are currently in line to start next weekend at Dodger Stadium.
UP NEXT
Rockies (LHP Kyle Freeland, 1-6, 8.08) at Angels (RHP José Soriano, 6-4, 2.65), Monday, 6:38 p.m., ABTV, 830 AM