PHOENIX, Ariz. — Luis Matos had a concrete plan in place when traveled to his native Venezuela to play winter ball, one that was equal parts simple and necessary: swing at good pitches.
With that goal in place, Matos won Rookie of the Year for Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuela Winter League, hitting .300 with 10 home runs and 41 RBIs. That refined approach remains his modus operandi in Arizona — a refined approach that could land him on the Opening Day roster.
“The whole idea here was to have a plan,” Matos said through team interpreter Erwin Higueros, “to have an idea and come in and hit — not just come to bat and swing like crazy. Ever since I played winter ball in Venezuela, that was my whole approach: make sure that I swung at good pitches.”
Matos, 23, checked that box on Friday afternoon at American Family Fields of Phoenix against the Milwaukee Brewers, launching a no-doubt, two-run home run halfway up the grass in left field for his second homer of spring. Of equal importance was what Matos avoided: swinging at bad pitches. In his final plate appearance, Matos laid off four pitches out of the zone and drew his first walk of Cactus League play. Matos made a leaping catch and crashed into the center-field wall, continuing to strengthen his case to be San Francisco’s fourth outfielder.
“I’m not one of those (players) who’s looking for walks, but it’s good to have one,” Matos said. “I’m going to become more and more patient at the plate.”
Matos possesses some of the best bat-to-ball skills in the organization, likely second behind only Jung Hoo Lee. Over two major-league seasons, Matos has made contact on 85.5% of pitches he’s swung at, which would be the 15th-best mark in baseball last season. It should come as no surprise, then, that Matos is excellent at minimizing whiffs and strikeouts. The area where Matos stands to most improve is tempering his aggressiveness.
Last season, Matos had one of the worst chase rates in baseball. He swung at 40.1% of pitches he saw that were outside the strike zone, and if Matos had enough plate appearances to qualify, he’d rank in roughly the third percentile. With such a swing-happy approach, Matos only walked in 3.2% of all plate appearances last season, which would’ve been the fourth-lowest mark in all of baseball.
“He hasn’t walked yet, but his thing is swinging,” said manager Bob Melvin before Friday’s 11-5 loss to the Brewers. “He’s getting better pitches to hit, and that’s always going to be the most important thing: not chasing too much. Last year, when he was getting pitches to hit, he went crazy. Then, all of a sudden, he was a little bit too aggressive. So, even though he hasn’t walked, we’ve seen him get a little deeper in counts and I think that’s a progression for him.”
The Giants entered this spring with Matos, Grant McCray and Marco Luciano as their three main candidates to win that fourth outfielder role. While Luciano was technically in the mix, Matos and McCray stood out as the favorites considering Luciano was converting from middle infielder to corner outfielder. When Luciano was part of the first wave of cuts, the battle between Matos and McCray began in earnest.
Over the last several weeks, Matos and McCray done their respective parts to make the team. Matos owns a .349 batting average and .899 OPS with two homers, two steals and 11 RBIs; McCray has a .323 batting average and .963 OPS with one homer, four RBIs and four steals. They’ve both played well, so who has the edge? On Friday morning, Melvin may have tipped his hand when asked about stolen bases.
“Some of our faster guys that are stealing bases potentially might not be here to start the season,” Melvin said.
McCray, arguably the fastest player in camp, definitely fits that profile. There are other factors working in Matos’ favor, too.
For as well as McCray has played this spring, he’s only played 37 games in the majors compared to Matos’ 121 games. McCray flashed both power (five homers) and speed (five steals) during his brief time in San Francisco but struck out in 43.1% of his plate appearances last season.
The 23-year-old Matos also has the benefit of being a right-handed hitter, one who can start for the left-handed hitting Mike Yastrzemski on days that the opposing team starts a lefty. Matos has hit better against lefties (.758 OPS) compared to righties (.561 OPS); Yastrzemski, unsurprisingly, has been the opposite, owning an .809 OPS against righties compared to a .686 OPS against lefties. Over the last four seasons, specifically, Yastrzemski has a .580 OPS against left-handers. Matos’ homer on Friday, appropriately enough, was against left-hander Nestor Cortes.
“My mindset is that I can only control what I can control,” Matos said. “My performance is going to dictate what the team wants to do with me.”
Roupp shoves against minor league competition
The competition for the fifth spot in the Giants’ rotation continued to heat up as Landen Roupp threw five scoreless innings at Papago Park with 13 strikeouts to one walk.
Yes, 13 strikeouts.
Roupp, 26, set the tone for his outing by punching out the first nine batters that he faced, landing 51 of the 66 pitches that he threw for strikes. The outing represented a positive momentum swing for Roupp, who allowed five earned runs over 3 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs in his last outing.
Interestingly enough, Melvin opted to watch Roupp’s start over at Papago Park instead of managing the Giants against the Brewers at American Family Fields of Phoenix.
Hicks kicks habit
Jordan Hicks put on a significant amount of weight this offseason to prepare for his second season as a starting pitcher. He made an equally important life decision to ensure he maintains that weight.
The 28-year-old Hicks told reporters after his start on Friday that he quit nicotine this offseason, which he believed suppressed his appetite. Along with quitting nicotine, Hicks said he hasn’t drank alcohol since last season and plans to be in the weight room twice per week. While Hicks said he might have an occasional beer, he has no intention of returning to nicotine.
“It’s unhealthy in general,” said Hicks, who pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed four earned runs on a grand slam to Christian Yelich. “I’m just at that age where if you don’t quit, you’re going to do it for life. I didn’t want to be that person — no knock on anybody, but it’s just not me anymore.