SF Giants young outfielder has historic start to series against Colorado Rockies

The SF Giants were dealt a brutal blow when Jung Hoo Lee was lost for the season after suffering structural damage in his left shoulder.  Lee is just one of a dizzying eleven players on the injured list for the Giants right now, which predictably has tested their organizational depth in a major way.  Any team would be struggling to stay afloat with this parade of injuries, but at least Lee’s replacement in center field, Luis Matos, has taken full advantage of his opportunity and has accomplished an impressive feat while doing it.

SF Giants young outfielder has historic start to series against Colorado Rockies

In the first game of the Rockies series on Friday, Matos had a career night, going 3-for-5 at the plate with two doubles and five RBI.  He astoundingly managed an even better line the next day, going 3-for-5 once again with a home run, double, two runs, and SIX RBI. 

Sarah Langs of MLB.Com noted on X that Matos “is the 5th player aged 22 or younger with consecutive 5+ RBI Games (since RBI ‘became’ official in 1920)”.  Oh, and if you thought all he could do was knock them in, he can take them away too – he robbed a would-be home run off the bat of Teoscar Hernández on Wednesday and made another impressive grab right at the top of the wall on Saturday.

Matos’ emergence has come at a time of dire need for the Giants.  He did all he could to earn himself an Opening Day spot in spring training, where he went 16-58 (.302) with four homers and 11 RBI over 58 plate appearances.  The Giants had a lot more healthy players then, though, and Matos has minor league options to burn, so it was an easy choice for them to let the 22-year-old get regular reps in Sacramento. 

His bat went cold with the River Cats, slumping to a .218/.308/.355 line in 143 plate appearances, but maybe part of the problem was that he felt he didn’t deserve to be there.  Whatever the case, he seems highly motivated to succeed while wearing the orange and black.

Matos has already done enough in the past week to force his way into the Giants’ long-term plans, and even when a roster crunch materializes after Michael Conforto, Austin Slater, and Nick Ahmed return from injury, it would be almost impossible to justify sending him back down to Sacramento.  Letting the kids play has gone shockingly well, or at least, shockingly not-lousy for the team of late, who are now riding their first three-game winning streak of the season.  They’re still banking on a lot of their injured players coming back sooner than later, but it’s beginning to look like no matter what, Matos is here to stay.