Unsung Angels trade acquisition from Yankees labeled as one of MLB’s biggest 2026 surprises

The Los Angeles Angels' lineup has, predictably, been pretty reliant on Zach Neto and Mike Trout this season. Those two lead the team in most notable offensive categories in the early going, including OPS (.804 and .961, respectively) and wRC+ (123 and 161).

However, there's another player who is actually sandwiched between that star duo in both stats: Oswald Peraza. Thanks to an .843 OPS and 132 wRC+, Bleacher Report rightfully named the 25-year-old as one of the 2026 season's biggest surprises to this point.

He also wasn't the only one to get a mention on that list, as staff ace José Soriano got a nod as a frontrunner for the American League Cy Young Award. However, whereas Soriano had at least shown glimpses of this brilliance in the past (he was worth 3.0 fWAR last year), Peraza has truly come out of left field to serve as one of the Angels' most valuable players thus far.

Oswald Peraza is an Angels star and he keeps giving the Yankees reasons to regret trading him

On the whole, Peraza is hitting .280/.349/.493 with the lowest strikeout rate of his career in a full season. Considering that he was worth -0.3 fWAR across parts of four seasons with the New York Yankees, it has to be pretty frustrating for the Bronx Bombers to see their former top prospect already running up his 2026 tally to 0.7 in Los Angeles.

Peraza also made sure to get his revenge in while he could, hitting .500 and blasting two home runs in a series against the Yankees earlier this month. Things got so bad that fans and pundits were questioning the quality of the coaching staff in New York.

Things won't be this rosy forever, especially if the young infielder doesn't rein in his whiff rate or habit of chasing pitches outside the zone. He's also still pretty averse to taking a free pass, which is a trifecta of plate discipline do-nots that could portend a less bountiful future.

But this isn't a case of a career journeyman catching lightning in a bottle. Peraza is a former top-100 prospect who was prophesied to become an annual 20-20 threat in the big leagues. There may still be some holes in his game, but a 25-year-old figuring out the top level for the first time is hardly a novel concept in this sport.

Even if regression catches up with him to some degree, the Angels appear to have found a keeper in their 2025 trade deadline acquisition.

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