The Cardinals announced that they have claimed outfielder Everson Pereira off waivers from the White Sox. Chicago designated him for assignment on deadline day when they picked up Joey Bart from Atlanta. The Cards had a couple of 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move in that regard. Pereira is out of options and will need a spot on the active roster when he reports to the team.
Pereira, 25, was an international signing of the Yankees out of Venezuela. As a minor leaguer, he showed off big power potential but that also came with a lot of strikeouts. Despite the concerns, Baseball America still ranked him a top 100 guy in 2023 and 2024.
The swing-and-miss concerns have proven to be a big issue so far in his big league career. He only has 264 plate appearances but 37.1% of those have ended with strike three. He has a .172/.246/.290 line in those trips to the plate. He has continued to crush the ball on the farm. In 738 Triple-A plate appearances, he has 43 home runs, a .269/.360/.520 line and 126 wRC+. His 29.5% strikeout rate in that time is high but obviously much better than his major league work.
Despite the lack of major league success, teams are clearly still hopeful about the overall profile. In 2025, Pereira was in his final option season and was therefore running out of time with the Yanks. At that year’s deadline, they flipped him to the Rays as part of the José Caballero deal. At the end of the season, the Rays flipped him and Tanner Murray to the White Sox for Steven Wilson and Yoendrys Gómez.
Presumably, the rebuilding White Sox were open to giving the out-of-options Pereira a decent amount of playing time this year. However, he hit the injured list in early April with a left ankle sprain. He came back quickly but hit the IL again in late April due to a pectoral strain. He came back in June but quickly returned to the IL due to a concussion. Around all the IL stints, he only got into 27 games. The Sox emerged as legitimate contenders along the way and no longer had the ability to be patient with his development.
The Cardinals, they are only four games back of a playoff spot right now but are clearly more focused on the future. They just opened a hole in their outfield by trading Lars Nootbaar to the Diamondbacks. That leaves them with Jordan Walker, Nathan Church, Bryan Torres and Nelson Velázquez in the outfield group, with infielder José Fermín chipping in occasionally. Infielder César Prieto was just recalled after the Nootbaar trade, so perhaps he will get sent down. Walker has missed the past two games with knee inflammation, so he could end up on the IL.
Time will tell how St. Louis doles out the playing time. Since Pereira is out of options, he could be back in DFA limbo in the near future. If he finally clicks and hits like he has in the minors, he can be controlled for five seasons after this one.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images
