Yankees’ Everson Pereira swinging through his first shot

When the Yankees first promoted Everson Pereira on Aug. 22, the organization highlighted the 22-year-old’s improved swing decisions in recent years.

“His ability to swing at strikes and take balls has improved dramatically over the last three or four years,” Triple-A hitting coach Trevor Amicone said at the time. “The things that we’ve seen over the last month is an improvement in his ability to swing at the right strikes and swing at the strikes that he can do damage on.”

“We’ve seen big strides in that area over the last year,” Aaron Boone added when first asked about Pereira’s reputation as a free swinger.

But those strides have yet to translate to the big leagues following a monstrous season in the minors that actually saw Pereira cut his strikeout rate from 29.2% at Double-A to 27.8% at Triple-A.

The left fielder, the Yankees’ third-best prospect, entered Friday’s game in Pittsburgh with a 39.2 K% rate in The Show. Pereira struck out a whopping 31 times over his first 21 games and 79 plate appearances.

That’s a limited amount of time in the majors, but Pereira took a .143 average, .427 OPS, 10 hits, three doubles and seven RBI into the opener against the Pirates. He has yet to homer after going deep 18 times in the minors this year.

“Ultimately, success in this league comes down to you get fewer pitches to do damage with,” Boone said after Pereira went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the Yankees’ Game 1 loss to the Red Sox on Thursday. “Good pitches to hit, you got to take advantage of those.

“I don’t feel like he’s expanded a ton. A little bit, but then that pitch he’s getting within the course of an at-bat, it’s a foul ball or swinging through it. Those are the pitches you got to take advantage of, and that’s the separator from having success here and not.”

Pereira, who did not play in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader, has swung at pitches outside of the zone 30.7% of the time.

While Pereira and the Yankees would have preferred a hotter start, the rookie will likely continue to play regularly as the team spends the rest of 2023 focusing on its youth.

With the Yankees in evaluation mode, there’s no harm in letting Pereira struggle in the majors as he continues his development. However, he is letting an opportunity go by, as the team’s future in left field is uncertain.

The Yankees made the questionable decision to enter spring training this season with Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Cabrera as their top choices in left, and that backfired in spectacular fashion. The team may not want to take the same approach with Pereira next spring if he doesn’t show he belongs soon, but there aren’t many enticing options available in free agency, either.

The Yankees also have to figure out what they’re going to do in center with Jasson Domínguez in need of UCL surgery.

That and other offseason needs could help Pereira’s case come spring training. But so far, he looks like a hitter in need of more seasoning and patience after a small sample.