The Angels have cleared two more names off the 40-man picture, and both players are headed toward free agency.
On Oct. 29, the club announced that left-hander Sammy Peralta and catcher Sebastián Rivero both passed through waivers unclaimed and were outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. Both were eligible to elect free agency, and Peralta has now done exactly that, with the club announcing on Nov. 1 that he chose free agency.
Peralta, 28, split the 2026 season between the Rockies and Angels and logged 23 innings with a 6.65 ERA. The results weren’t pretty, but the underlying numbers offered a little more encouragement: he struck out 20.5% of the hitters he faced and walked 8%, while SIERA pegged him at 3.96.
The rough edges were obvious, though. He gave up too many home runs, hit four of the 112 batters he faced, and was hurt by a .417 batting average on balls in play.
Across parts of four big league seasons, he now owns a 5.64 ERA in 68 2/3 innings. The soft-tossing lefty has averaged 89.1 mph on his four-seamer and 88.8 mph on his sinker in his major league work.
Rivero, 27, got 57 plate appearances with the Angels and hit .245/.286/.283. His big league track record is still light overall, with 164 plate appearances between Kansas City and Anaheim and a .197/.247/.237 line.
The bat has never carried much weight, in the majors or in the minors, but Rivero has earned chances because of his glove. He’s a quality defender who has repeatedly found himself in big league games as the third or fourth catcher on an organization’s depth chart.
If Rivero also moves on, both players will be looking to land minor league opportunities with a new club.
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