SF Giants letting their young prospects play in final month of lost season

The SF Giants called up Marco Luciano and Luis Matos in a move that signifies the team is committed to playing their younger players more in a season that at this point is lost. It will be interesting to see what these two young players can prove in the final month.

In corresponding moves, the Giants optioned both Casey Schmitt and Blake Sabol to Triple-A Sacramento. Both Schmitt and Sabol are young players with promise as well, but the Giants probably feel that Luciano and Matos have higher ceilings and would benefit more from some big league seasoning.

SF Giants letting their young prospects play in final month of lost season

It seems the plan is to give Marco Luciano a lot of time at second base. This seems wise given the fact that he seemed wholly unsuited to handling the shortstop position when he was called up earlier this year and committed 5 errors in 9 games. He already made an error at second base in last night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but this is the perfect time to let him work through his defensive struggles while at the same time getting quality at-bats against big league pitching.

With Matos, he showed flashes that he can be a quality big league player earlier this year. He went on an absolute tear that earned him NL Player of the Week honors but followed it up by going ice cold at the plate which resulted in his demotion to Triple-A. With Michael Conforto likely to depart in free agency, the Giants should definitely be giving some of his at-bats to Matos for the rest of the year.

Of course, there is only so much you can learn about a young player in September. If either player goes on a tear that does not mean it will translate to success next season nor do struggles indicate that they are a complete lost cause. They are both young, raw players who badly need these reps against major league pitching so no matter what they will get better as ballplayers the rest of this season.

With the playoffs out of reach, there is not much for the Giants to play for the rest of this year nor is there much for fans to root for. Adding Luciano and Matos to the team can at least spark some interest and give fans a glimpse of the future even if that future seems fairly grim at this point in time.