The 2025 season could be a critical year for a pair of young SF Giants hitters

The SF Giants will enter an uncomfortable position with Luis Matos and Marco Luciano once the 2025 season begins. Both players have one minor league option year remaining and that final option could be burned as soon as this season.

The 2025 season could be a critical year for a pair of young SF Giants hitters

The Giants do not have nearly enough information on either player to make an evaluation. Both are still very young with room left to grow. However, neither player has seen consistent enough playing time with the Giants either.

Of course, playing time is earned in the majors. Both Matos and Luciano have not performed yet against major league pitching with the exception of Matos' tear at the plate early in the 2024 season where he earned Player of the Week honors.

Outside of that, both players had disappointing years. The Giants tried to commit to Luciano getting playing time after the trade deadline but that was an experiment that concluded after only a couple of games. It was a bizarre decision by the coaching staff and front office to publicly say that they will commit to Luciano and then essentially pull the plug after a couple of games.

That said, the right-handed bat struggled to a .562 OPS in 81 plate appearances with San Francisco. He had a couple of opportunities even if they were sporadic. His Triple-A numbers were not much better as he registered a .250/.380/.380 line (99 wRC+) with 10 home runs, 42 RBI, and 55 runs in 384 plate appearances.

There was a concerning dip in power. Though, he continued to flash good bat speed while posting quality exit velocity readings in Sacramento. He displayed a poor bat path, resulting in far too much contact on the ground and limiting his power upside. The bat speed is tough to teach but the bat path can be corrected. That will be a key to Luciano's success at the plate. Perhaps, being a more aggressive hitter again might help as well.

For Matos, it felt like he struggled to find a good bat path and approach as soon as the regular season began. He posted a .779 OPS with 14 home runs and 53 RBI in 379 plate appearances in Triple-A. When he was called up, he got off to a hot start and cooled off considerably.

The right-handed bat's struggles were somewhat predictable if the underlying numbers were any indication. His recorded a 37.3 percent chase rate, which is a problem for someone like Matos who has excellent bat-to-ball skills. When he swings, he usually makes contact even if it is a poor swing decision. That is not a good outcome more often than not.

It also looked like there was an intentional effort by Matos to lift and pull. His fly ball rate jumped up to 44.9 percent to go along with a 51.2 percent pull rate. His infield fly ball rate ballooned to 14.3 percent as well. A high infield fly ball rate is usually a sign of something gone wrong.

When he is at his best, Matos sprays the ball all over the field with line drives. That was not the hitter we saw in 2024.

The good news is that Matos went on a tear at the plate in winter ball. The Giants are hopeful that he brings this into spring training and forces the Giants' hand if there is no obvious opening in the outfield.

At the end of the day, the Giants may need to force themselves to create playing time for Matos and Luciano, especially if they are performing. It would behoove them to have as much data as possible before the end of the year. If either player burns a final option year, then the clock really does begin to tick