Spring Training is just around the corner for the New York Yankees, and it will be a high-stakes competition for quite a few players on the franchise’s 40-man roster. Much of manager Aaron Boone’s squad is largely set ahead of Opening Day, but multiple spots on the fringes of the Major League roster are still up for grabs.

Luminaries like Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge will approach Spring Training as a glorified practice to help them get up to speed for the regular season. But the majority of the players heading to Florida cannot take that sort of relaxed approach. A few members of New York’s roster in particular will need to treat every play with maximum effort and attention if they want to carve out a meaningful career with the Yankees. Fans of the Bronx Bombers could keep a close eye on how these three players perform next month with their Yankee careers on the line.

1. Oswald Peraza

It seems like just yesterday that Peraza was on the same level as Anthony Volpe as an infield prospect. He arguably played better than Volpe two springs ago, before an injury knocked him out of the competition for the team’s starting shortstop position. Now Volpe is entrenched as an everyday player in Boone’s lineup and Peraza’s career has stalled in the Minors.

The fact that Peraza is now out of Minor League options makes this a clear make-or-break Spring Training for the former top prospect. The challenge ahead of him is clear: He either needs to make the team’s Opening Day roster or hit waivers, where he’ll likely be claimed by a different franchise.

The odds are stacked against Peraza breaking camp with the big-league club. His best chance to pull off an upset is to show that he’s the best internal option to seize the everyday starting job at third base. Peraza has the glove required to pull that off, but it’s not his best infield position.

The bigger challenge will be for him to prove that he’s capable of producing enough offensively to man a corner infield spot. There were always questions over his hit tool, but the vision for him as a prospect was that he could provide enough defensive value to overcome those shortcomings. The bar will be higher for his offensive production at third base than it would have been in the middle infield. He’ll need to show massive progress in the spring if he wants to stay with the Yankees for the long haul.

2. DJ LeMahieu

LeMahieu is a big-name player for the Yankees, but his performance made him one of the worst players in MLB last season. The organization hopes he can bounce back after a healthy offseason, but that feels more like a hope than a plan at this stage of the offseason.

If LeMahieu is going to earn significant time in Boone’s infield then he must get off to a hot start in Spring Training. He’s never going to win another batting title, but he needs to show he can catch up to above-average velocity once again. His bat was far too slow in 2024 to compete at the plate against quality opposition.

LeMahieu’s defensive versatility gives him an advantage over some younger infielders on the 40-man roster but the Yankees cannot afford to wait on him to bounce back any longer. It’s putup or shutup time for the former All-Star.

3. Everson Pereira

It was tempting to put Spencer Jones on the list at this spot, but it’s a bit too early to put such intense pressure on the outfield prospect. Instead, Pereira lands here as a prospect that needs to show the Yankees front office that he’s Major League-ready during Spring Training.

The former top-100 prospect missed the vast majority of last seaosn after suffering a UCL injury. That does give New York another option year they can leverage with the toolsy outfielder. The downside is that the injury robbed Pereira of a crucial year of development in 2024.

Like Jones, Pereira’s biggest weakness as a prospect is his inability to produce consistent contact. He possesses a big, powerful swing that can yield hard contact when he can square up opposing pitches. Unfortunately, that long swing gives opposing pitchers too many holes to take advantage of on a regular basis.

Pereira is a good bet to start the season in Triple-A. This Spring Training is about him establishing himself as the next outfielder up in New York’s Minor League system. If he can’t do that, then it doesn’t make sense for the Yankees to keep him on the 40-man roster any longer.