Veteran SF Giants outfielder notably absent from lineup for second straight game

Veteran SF Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski is not in the team's lineup for the second straight game. It remains to be seen whether this is going to be a trend or if this is just a weird quirk early in the season.

The team announced its lineup for Sunday's rubber match against the Cincinnati Reds and the young outfielder Luis Matos is getting the start in right field for the second game in a row.

It was no surprise that Matos started Saturday's game against the Reds because the Giants were going up against left-handed pitcher Nick Lodolo. After Matos had a strong showing in spring training, it made sense that the Giants would opt for a platoon in right field with Matos getting starts against lefties and Yastrzemski getting starts against righties.

SF Giants veteran Mike Yastrzemski out of lineup for second straight game

However, Sunday's matchup against the Reds will see San Francisco take on right-handed starter Nick Martinez. Matos getting the nod against a right-handed pitcher this early in the season feels somewhat significant, but let's dig into it further.

Martinez does have some considerable ownage against Yastrzemski in his career. In 11 at-bats, Martinez has struck Yastrzemski out a whopping seven times. Matos has only faced Martinez once and got a walk against him. Maybe this is just a case where manager Bob Melvin realizes one of his players just does not see an opposing pitcher well so he is trying to shake things up a bit.

Both Yastrzemski and Matos looked good in their first games of the season. Yastrzemski recorded two base hits in four at-bats on Opening Day while Matos did the same in Saturday's contest.

It was interesting that on Saturday when the Giants were down to their final out and there was a right-handed pitcher on the mound for the Reds, Melvin did not pinch hit for Matos with Yastrzemski. That would have been an almost automatic pinch hit in recent years but Melvin opting against it shows he either has a lot of trust in Matos or did not want to remove him after he already had two hits, including one against a right-hander, and looked solid at the plate.

It is going to be fascinating to see how this platoon plays out over the course of the season. With Yastrzemski quite possibly playing his final season with the Giants, it makes sense that San Francisco would want to work Matos in more since he could end up being the team's starter in right field next year.

We should not read too much into the fact that Matos is in the lineup over Yastrzemski, especially given the veteran's poor numbers against Martinez, but if this becomes a more common occurrence then it may suggest that Melvin believes Matos is the superior option at the plate no matter the opposing pitcher.