Has Former Giants Top Prospect Luis Matos Run Out of Leash?

Now, this isn’t the only hot run that Matos has had throughout his time in the big leagues. He did something similar for a slightly longer stretch just this past season.

After being recalled on August 21, he would go on a run that made him look like a future piece for the organization once again. In his final 64 plate appearances on the season, he slashed .328/.375/.569 with a 161 wRC+.

This included a pair of huge home runs against the playoff-bound Brewers and resulted in a .944 OPS. It was exactly what Giants fans had been waiting for all season. He had been disappointing for the majority of 2025 and even as a guy who faced lefties the majority of the time, struggled.

However, it seemed like he had finally figured it out. That was until September 15, when he was optioned back to Triple-A Sacramento despite the impressive play for a few weeks. With a position that finally had some runway after Mike Yastrzemski got dealt at the deadline, it almost felt as if Buster Posey had made a final decision on Matos, and it wasn’t necessarily a good one.

The Lows

Unfortunately for the 23-year-old, the lows have outweighed the highs for the majority of his career since debuting. Despite being a rising top prospect for the Giants in 2023, he’s been on a yo-yo between Sacramento and San Francisco for the past two years.

Matos’ rookie season of 2023 wasn’t absolutely awful, but it also wasn’t anything to be excited about. In 253 plate appearances (a career-high), he hit .250 and struggled to hit for any power, with only two home runs and a 85 wRC+.

This was a big surprise for the young outfielder. Even though development isn’t always linear, he had mashed in the minors prior to his debut. Between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023, he had a 147 wRC+.

However, this seemed to be a perfect foreshadowing for what the next few seasons would look like for Matos. Remember that Player of the Week award we talked about in 2024?

Well, Matos followed that up by slashing .183/.214/.275 with a 34 wRC+ and only three home runs through the remainder of the 2024 season.

He was optioned and recalled several times and what once looked like a legit piece of this team’s future, had simply vanished. A similar scenario occurred just this past season.

While it is Spring Training and everything should be taken with a grain of salt, Matos performed well heading into 2025. He hit .306 with two home runs and wasn’t striking out a lot.

Despite every position in the outfield being secured with Heliot Ramos coming off a breakout All-Star season, Jung Hoo Lee returning from injury, and Mike Yastrzemski being a fine, veteran third outfielder, Matos found his way onto the Opening Day roster.

He would be the platoon partner for Yastrzemski, who has always struggled against southpaws. Matos, on the other hand, had seen some success against them, hitting .310 versus lefties in his debut season of 2023.

He was finally given a full-time role on the big league team, and with Yastrzemski heading into a walk year, fans were looking for him to establish himself as the future right fielder of the franchise.

Unfortunately, quite the opposite happened. Prior to his hot stretch that began on August 21, Matos looked overmatched for the majority of 2025.

He slashed .167/.208/.351 for a disappointing .559 OPS. Arguably, the most confusing part was how bad he was against lefties, which was supposed to be his main role heading into the season.

He hit a mere .183 facing them while being significantly better against righties, hitting .256. This seems to be what led to Buster Posey making a decision on Matos’ future earlier than expected.

Final Thoughts

While time isn’t officially up for the 23-year-old, it sure seems like it’s all but ran out. He is heading into the 2025 season with no more MiLB options remaining and ended the 2025 season in Triple-A.

Technically, he could win a spot out of Spring Training and everything could turn out okay for Matos, but it wasn’t an encouraging sign when two other young outfielders finished the year at the big league level in Drew Gilbert and Grant McCray.

On the Giants’ side of things, there’s always risk when deciding to move on from a young, once highly-touted prospect. If by some miracle they go somewhere and become the hitter you expected them to be for your franchise, you’ll hear it from fans and ownership for a long time.

It has never been a question of talent with him, but the misalignment of the timing, opportunity, and execution. As the Giants begin a new era under Buster Posey and whoever he chooses as his next manager, Luis Matos’ fate might just define how this regime handles the ghosts of the organization’s past development failures.