On Tuesday, Luis Matos missed a play that almost every outfielder should make, dropping a catchable fly ball and turning an out into three bases. Roughly 24 hours later, Matos made a play that just about no one would make, tracking Teoscar Hernández’s deep drive to center field and robbing a home run.
That’s duality.
Over in left field, Heliot Ramos had a field-level view of Matos’ lowlight and highlight. Ramos will have plenty of opportunities to graze that patch of outfield grass himself.
With Jung Hoo Lee potentially out for months and Michael Conforto dealing with his own ailment, Matos, 22, and Ramos, 24, will be the team’s starting center and left fielders, respectively. The kids will get their shot.
“He’s a showman,” said Logan Webb of Matos after throwing six shutout innings on Wednesday, thanks partly to Matos’ catch. “That’s what excites people and excites us.”
Luis Matos makes an INCREDIBLE catch at the wall. pic.twitter.com/ksJls1lIlF
— MLB (@MLB) May 16, 2024
The Giants have desperately needed that type of excitement, given the number of injured position players.
Lee dislocated his left shoulder after crashing into the center-field wall — nearly the same spot where Matos made his catch — and was scheduled to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles for a second opinion. The status of Lee, who has a .262 batting average with two homers and two steals, remains unclear, but he could very well miss the next several months, if not the remainder of the season.
There’s also the matter of Conforto, who was placed on the injured list on Sunday with a right hamstring strain.
Conforto was in the midst of his best season since his days with the Mets, owning a .280 batting average and .821 OPS with seven home runs in 38 games. Designated hitter Jorge Soler even had a scare in the batting cage as he works his way back from a shoulder injury: He hit a ball that ricocheted off the cage and struck him in the head, though he continued onto a rehab assignment Wednesday.
“There’s always injuries that happen,” Webb said after Wednesday’s win. “Unfortunately, it’s been crazy the last week or so. You guys all saw the video of Soler yesterday; you don’t see that very often.
“It’s just kind of how it’s been going right now for us. We can’t sit back and feel bad for yourself. You just have to go out there and play and hope for the best.”
Matos and Ramos, once top prospects in the Giants’ system, are still seeking consistent success at the major league level.
Matos, who homered off Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Monday, has been a below-average hitter during his brief major league career, owning a .250 batting average and .663 OPS, but excels in two departments: avoiding strikeouts and making contact.
Over 81 career games, Matos has a strikeout rate of 12.3%; for context, entering Thursday, only eight players have a lower strikeout rate in 2024. In 16 plate appearances this season, Matos has yet to strike out (or walk). Additionally, Matos’ career contact rate of 85.0% would rank in the top-25 this season if he qualified.
The main concern with Matos, though, is the defense.
In 60 career games in center field, Matos has been worth minus-6 outs above average and minus-8 fielding run value, both of which are the worst marks among all center fielders since the beginning of last season. Additionally, Matos has also been worth minus-10 defensive runs saved. Matos noted on Wednesday that he and the coaching staff have discussed positioning him deeper in the outfield.
While Ramos has graded out OK defensively in a very limited sample, worth two defensive runs saved across 253 career outfield innings, he has struggled mightily with the bat.
Since debuting in 2022, Ramos has a career .200 batting average and .536 OPS over 42 games. Ramos is 9-for-29 (.310 batting average) this season, but only two of those hits — a pair of doubles — have gone for extra bases.
Ramos’ struggles are partially rooted in his bat-to-ball skills. In 112 career plate appearances, Ramos has a contact rate of 68.6%. Entering Thursday, Nick Castellanos had the same contact rate this season, ranking 10th-worst in baseball. While Ramos can hit the ball hard, owning a career average exit velocity of 90.7 mph, he has struck out in about a third of his career plate appearances.
The circumstances are far from ideal, but Matos and Ramos will receive runway to prove themselves at the major league level. Time will tell how they make use of it.