Why the 2025 season could be a make-or-break year for a pair of young SF Giants players

A pair of SF Giants young players in Luis Matos and Marco Luciano have exhausted two option years apiece. As they enter the 2025 season, there is a good chance that they will use their third option if they spent at least 20 days in the minors.

Why the 2025 season could be a make-or-break year for a pair of young SF Giants players

It is not a certainly that this will happen, but with each player being on the 40-man roster for two years now, the organization has not yet been informed as to either player's potential.

For what it is worth, the Giants are attempting to give Luciano a long look at second base with them being well out of the playoff mix. Of course, that comes with growing pains as well.

The 22-year-old hitter has not done much at the plate yet to inspire a lot of confidence for next season. The issue that plagued him for much of the season in Triple-A remains a problem with the Giants.

While Luciano continues to flash excellent bat speed and some intriguing exit velocities, his power plays down due to a suboptimal launch angle, leading to too many ground balls.

Overall, the right-handed bat has registered a .242/.288/.339 line (77 wRC+) with a 6.1 percent walk rate, 31.8 percent strikeout rate, and .097 ISO. Those are not exactly the type of numbers that call for more playing time, but with the Giants out of the playoff mix, it would behoove them to allow their younger plays to get much-needed reps. Allow them to succeed and fail. There is nothing to lose.

On the other hand, the Giants do not seem too inclined to giving Luis Matos a longer look in September. He has only started a couple of games since being recalled earlier along with Luciano this month. Granted, they just may have too many outfield options at the moment.

The numbers have been rough as he has posted a .575 OPS with five home runs and 25 RBI in 153 plate appearances with the Giants. Matos showed some improvement in terms of limiting his chase rate last year, but that number has increased to 37.1 percent. Fortunately, he has the contact skills to put the ball in play, but swinging at pitches outside of the zone is not what is considered a good swing decision.

Plus, the young outfielder is trying to get too much lift and pulling the ball at too high of a rate in an effort to generate more extra-base hits. Unfortunately, that has led to a few too many infield popups and not enough squaring up the ball. These will need to be things to work on in the offseason.

Of course, the Giants might be coming to the realization that he might not just be a fit in the outfield. Matos does not hit for enough power to profile as a corner outfielder and his defense needs to show considerable improvement to profile in center field.

With a handful of options like Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee, and Grant McCray in the mix among others, there might not be a lot of opportunities for playing time in 2025 for Matos.

Regardless of what happens this year, the Giants hope that both Luciano and Matos can take another step in their development in 2025. If not, it creates an uncomfortable deadline in 2026 where the Giants will need to consider whether to keep either or both players.