Luis Matos Excites With Well-Rounded Skills

Not great at any one thing but very good at just about everything.

That’s the condensed assessment of 19-year-old outfielder Luis Matos—and the Giants will eagerly accept it.

“I think he’s more in that 50-60 tool range,” Giants farm director Kyle Haines said, referring to the 20-80 scouting scale. “He’s not really under a 50 (average) in anything. He doesn’t really have that 70 tool by any means yet.

“We’ll see how it develops as he plays more, but (he’s) just really well-rounded.”

The Giants signed the righthanded-hitting Venezuelan in 2018. As a 17-year-old, Matos tore up the Dominican Summer League in 2019, hitting .362/.430/.570.

He then went 7-for-16 in five Rookie-level Arizona League games.

“He has a chance to hit for both average and for some doubles and extra-base hits in general,” Haines said. “He shows all the ingredients to be a very multi-dimensional threat at the plate.”

Matos’ above-average speed helps him both in the outfield and on the bases.

“I don’t think you’re going to see the top-of-the-line speed of the Billy Hamiltons of the world,” Haines said, “but you’re going to see a nice runner who’s really just a heads-up ballplayer on the field.

“He runs good routes. He throws to the right bases. He seems to make the steady, reliable play all the time.”

Listed at 6 feet, 186 pounds, Matos played at instructional league last fall and was at minor league spring training this year. The Giants have taken something of a hands-off approach to Matos in the batter’s box.

“What he’s shown right now on the offensive side is we just need to get him game experience that he’s lacked,” Haines said. “There aren’t really any drastic, ‘eureka’ moments where we just need to completely overhaul somebody.

“Just let him be him until he needs us.”

Because Matos has played just 60 professional games heading into 2021, the book is far from written.

“We’re not sure what we’ve got,” Haines said, “but everything he’s showed us so far has been very encouraging. (We’re) excited to see him grow this year.”

 

 

GIANTICS

— Reliever Camilo Doval, 23, made his major league debut with a three-up, three-down seventh inning that included two strikeouts in a 1-0 win at Miami on April 18. The hard-throwing righthander had another scoreless inning the next night in a 2-0 win at Philadelphia. Doval allowed his first big league run on Bryce Harper’s solo homer in a loss to the Phillies on April 21.

— Another hard-throwing righthander, Gregory Santos, made his debut with a perfect sixth inning in a 3-0 win against the Marlins in San Francisco on April 22. The Giants acquired Santos, 21, in a July 2017 trade with Boston that sent infielder Eduardo Nuñez to the Red Sox.