The San Francisco Giants’ youth movement continued on Wednesday as Luis Matos made his long-awaited debut.
Matos’ arrival came at the expense of Mitch Haniger, whose fractured forearm may require surgery and will see him out for the foreseeable future.
The rookie, though, arrives with substantial buzz, having hit six home runs in his previous six games with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats.
He went 1-for-3 with a run in his MLB debut on Wednesday and should get an extended look.
Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic had high praise for the rookie. He joined Murph and Mac to discuss the Giants’ youth movement on Wednesday.
“He is kind of a savant in terms of bat to ball,” Baggarly said. “You don’t want to make any comparisons, but you watch him now swing and he’s got that sort of swing with a big follow-through where the bat hits the ground and that looks like Adrian Beltre to me. He’s not as strong or biggest Beltre, but that’s one guy that comes to mind when I watch him swing. The other guy that he has compared himself to, at least stylistically, is Ronald Acuna Jr. So yeah, I think the Giants fans will take some of that.”
Matos was batting .398 in Sacramento before being called up.
Despite his six homer in six games streak heading into his debut, Baggarly doesn’t see Matos being a major home run hitter at the top level. He does see some enticing potential, though.
“His swing mechanics are just so perfect that he’s able to barrel the ball and when he does it goes, but hitting home runs isn’t really his game,” Baggarly said. “I don’t think he’s a guy who’s gonna hit 25-plus homers in the big leagues. He’s more a guy who will probably hit .300 plus. Obviously that’s hard to do in the big leagues, but he’s capable of it and if he really hits, I think his ceiling is a guy who gives you 40 doubles and 15 homers and steals you some bases and and plays a premium center field. That’s a pretty valuable player to have.”
Matos was pinch-hit for in the seventh inning on Wednesday for Michael Conforto, who promptly grounded out.
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