Fantasy baseball waiver wire: Newest Giant Luis Matos is the hottest man in the Minors

The hottest hitter in the Minors is now getting his chance in the Majors. After the San Francsico Giants lost both third baseman J.D. Davis and outfielder Mitch Haniger to injury in their win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night, the team has had to play a bit of roster musical chairs over the past 12 hours. One move, however, stands out among the rest: Top outfield prospect Luis Matos is headed to Busch Stadium for his MLB debut.

Not only that, but the Giants are throwing him right into the fire, starting him in center field and batting him second in the lineup against Cardinals lefty Jordan Montgomery:

If that seems a bit aggressive for a rookie in his first game, well, clearly you haven’t been watching Matos over the past month or so. The 21-year-old from Venezuela got the call to Triple-A in mid-May and has hit a truly unbelievable .416/.454/.693 since — with almost as many homers (six) as strikeouts (seven). Yeah, yeah, small sample size, Pacific Coast League, we know. But still: an 1.147 OPS!

Matos signed with San Francisco for $725,000 and was just 17 when he came over the States. But he hit the ground running, posting a 1.004 OPS in his 2019 debut and winning Low-A West MVP honors in 2021 while leading all players at that level in hits (141), extra-base hits (51), doubles (35), total bases (223) and RBI (86). That performance landed him around the top 50 of most prospect lists, but an early slump and a quad injury waylaid his 2022 (he hit just .211 over 92 games at High-A) and cooled his stock a bit.

Now that he’s back healthy, though, he’s getting the chance to show the plus bat speed and athleticism that made him so highly touted in the first place. Matos quickly dispatched with Double-A and has torn up Sacramento for the past month. Even more impressive, though, has been his approach at the plate: Everyone knew Matos had a preternatural ability to get the bat to the ball, but too often that contact was harmless because he was swinging at far too many pitches out of the zone. In 2023 he’s managed to marry that hit tool with a bit more restraint — he’s walked 24 times this year compared to just 20 strikeouts — and the results speak for themselves.

San Francisco has a pretty crowded outfield at full health, but considering the injury histories of Haniger, Michael Conforto and Joc Pederson, “full health” feels like a bit of a pipe dream. If Matos can avoid expanding the zone at the highest level, he could be a mainstay at the top of this lineup, especially against lefties.