This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
It’s hard not to pay attention to Giants outfield prospect Luis Matos, who has continued to rake since being promoted to Triple-A Sacramento last month.
Since joining the River Cats on May 17, Matos has hit an eye-popping .371 with a 1.001 OPS and three home runs, recording multiple hits in 12 of his first 21 games. His production is all the more remarkable considering the 21-year-old is currently the youngest player at the Triple-A level.
Matos’ stock dipped slightly after he struggled to overcome a nagging left quad injury at High-A Eugene last year. But now that he’s healthy, he’s quickly re-established himself as one of the most exciting prospects in the Giants’ farm system, which has already sent two other young position players -- infielder Casey Schmitt and catcher Patrick Bailey -- to the Majors this year.
With their offense back to full strength, the Giants don’t have an obvious spot for Matos on their 26-man roster, but president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi suggested that could change as the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline begins to near.
“We’re at a point now where we really want the engine of this team to come from in-house,” Zaidi told KNBR’s Tom Tolbert and Adam Copeland on Thursday. “Luis Matos is playing really well in Triple-A. We don’t really have a spot for him right now. I think if he continues to produce, we may try to create one. We’ve got a pretty deep team and a deep roster.”
Matos, who is ranked the club’s No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline, is already on the Giants’ 40-man roster, but Zaidi said it would likely take an injury to one of the team’s outfielders for the promising Venezuelan to earn his first big league callup right now. Michael Conforto, Mitch Haniger and Mike Yastrzemski are currently holding down the starting spots in San Francisco’s outfield, with Austin Slater and Blake Sabol also getting regular reps out there.
"No matter what people say, it winds up being kind of circumstance-related, injury-related as much as anything else," Zaidi said. “That's not to say he couldn't come up and make a big impact, but we've got a pretty crowded outfield.
"I think it would probably take losing somebody for some period of time. But again, you never know. Different things can happen, some of those guys can move around to different spots on the roster. It's really exciting to see what he's doing."
Here are some other standouts from the Giants’ four full-season affiliates:
Triple-A Sacramento
• Left-hander Kyle Harrison allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits over 4 1/3 innings in Sacramento’s 9-8 win over Las Vegas on Friday night. Harrison (No. 1) struck out six, walked one, threw a season-high 81 pitches and lowered his ERA to 3.40 over 13 starts this year.
The Giants have two vacant spots in their starting rotation following the injuries to Alex Wood and Ross Stripling, but a callup doesn’t sound imminent for Harrison, who is still working to refine his arsenal at Sacramento.
“I think we would all like to see Kyle get a little more experience in Sacramento and continue to demonstrate that his slider is developing the way he wants it to develop,” manager Gabe Kapler said earlier this week. “He’s continuing to focus on overall strike-throwing. He’s certainly missing plenty of bats. I think we still see development as important, and we want to continue to see him do good work.”
Double-A Richmond
• It’s hard to imagine a better Double-A debut for left-hander Carson Whisenhunt, who struck out seven over five scoreless innings in Richmond’s 6-1 win over Altoona on Wednesday. Whisenhunt (No. 8) allowed only two hits and walked two, giving him a 1.84 ERA in 11 starts across three levels this year.
High-A Eugene
• Outfielder Victor Bericoto is enjoying an impressive season at Eugene, where he’s batting .304 with an .866 OPS and leads the team in hits (58), home runs (9) and RBIs (34).
Single-A San Jose
• Two-way prospect Reggie Crawford (No. 9) launched the first home run of his professional career on Friday, crushing a two-run shot to the opposite field in San Jose’s 9-4 win over Visalia. Crawford, who bats and throws left-handed, is 3-for-9 with three RBIs in three starts at designated hitter this year. He's also allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings (5.06 ERA) in his first three appearances on the mound.