Well, hello everyone. It has been some time since I last crafted a blog. Not that I haven't had things to think about or talk about, but nothing that really inspired me to write. That changes today!!!! The Giants have been forced to play a number of their young prospects in the last few weeks due to a plethora of injuries to their regular roster. Jorge Soler, Michael Conforto, Nick Ahmed, Austin Slater, and Jung Hoo Lee are just a few of the names who have appeared on the Injured List, and that's not counting Patrick Bailey and Tom Murphy who were both lost a day apart during a rainy weekend in Philadelphia. But in their absences, we've seen prospects like Heliot Ramos, Luis Matos, and Marco Luciano promoted from AAA Sacramento and contribute in a big way. In the case of Matos in particular, I'm watching him and asking myself, why didn't he break Spring Training with the big club?
Let's start with Luis Matos who has undoubtedly become a star in about a week. Matos is the youngest of the trio at 22 years old. He made his Major League debut in June 2023 and played 76 games in San Francisco with 228 at-bats. He reportedly put on 15 pounds of muscle during the offseason in order to hit the ball harder. The reviews coming out of Spring Training were positive and there was talk about Matos starting the year with San Francisco, especially given the health statuses of Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Slater. Matos would actually be in San Fransisco during the first week of the season when Yastrzemski was placed on paternity leave, but that tenure lasted 1 game where Matos went 0-4 with 1 RBI. Since returning to San Francisco on May 12, Ramos has played 7 games and gone 10-26 (.385 batting average) with 3 doubles, 2 home runs, and 16 RBI. He's also struck out only once. This is not an outlier as Matos boasts a career contact rate of 85%. What this means is that when Matos swings at a pitch, he makes contact 85% of the time. Where Matos falls short is defensively. He has been graded as an average to below average center fielder in his career. He has made a couple of spectacular catches in San Francisco, but also misplayed a few balls earlier in the week. The coaching staff has been playing him deeper which may be giving him a better read on balls in the air. It is possible that Matos could move over to right field when Jung Hoo Lee can come back but given that Lee is expected to miss the entire 2024 season after shoulder surgery, Matos is likely the starting center fielder going forward.
Heliot Ramos is the oldest of the trio at 24 years old and frankly he's the one I'm rooting for the hardest. Ramos made his debut with San Francisco in April 2022 and in my opinion, Gabe Kapler and the management at the time had no faith and no patience. The best example of this came from last year. In August 2023 the Giants were down to the Rays 6-1 with the bases loaded. The Rays had left-handed relief pitcher Colin Poche on the mound and Kapler elected to allow left-handed rookie Wade Meckler to hit instead of pinch-hitting the right-handed Ramos or Austin Slater who were both bench options at the time. Meckler proceeded to strike out. A day later the Giants were down to the Rays 6-1 with the bases loaded. The Rays had left-handed relief pitcher Colin Poche on the mound with Meckler's spot in the order coming up. If this sounds identical it's because it is. On this occasion, however, Kapler elected to pinch-hit Slater who proceeded to ground into an inning-ending double play. Ramos did not have eye-popping statistics in either 2022 or 2023 hitting only .100 in 20 at-bats in '22 and .179 in 56 at-bats in '23. But now Bob Melvin is the manager and is giving Ramos an opportunity that Kapler never afforded him. Since arriving in San Francisco on May 8, Ramos has hit .293 in 41 at-bats (11 games) with 3 doubles, 1 home run, and 8 RBI. He has struck out 13 times which is a rate of about 32%. This is not unexpected as Ramos' career contact rate is only 68.6%. Defensively Ramos has graded as above average and has made some spectacular plays in both right field and left field. He had 2 outfield assists on May 11 against the Cincinnati Reds, throwing out runners trying to stretch singles to doubles in the 3rd inning and again in the 4th inning. Given that Michael Conforto is only under contract through this season, it could make sense to allow Ramos to go into 2025 as the starting left fielder.
Marco Luciano is also 22 (turning 23 in September) but has the least amount of Major League experience of the trio. Luciano is currently the top-rated position prospect in the Giants organization and the #2 rated prospect overall. Luciano has seemingly been dubbed the shortstop of the future for years, but only made his Major League debut in July 2023. In 14 games in '23, Luciano hit .231 (9-39) with 3 doubles and 17 strikeouts (44%). Since being called up to San Francisco on May 14, Luciano has played 4 games hitting .333 (4-12) with 2 doubles and 1 RBI. He has struck out 3 times and walked twice. Luciano has always been regarded as a hit-first prospect. His scouting report boasts his lightning-fast bat speed which generates plus-plus power to all fields. His ceiling could be a .270 batting average with 35 home runs per year. Defensively he has a strong arm and high baseball IQ, but many scouts outside the Giants organization think he will have to move off shortstop. His speed projects better to third base or right field. Though the Giants do seem to be showing faith in him at shortstop as he is getting a bulk of the starts with Nick Ahmed on the Injured List.
The youth movement is not only occurring at the Major League level, but also at AAA Sacramento. Enter one Hunter Bishop. Bishop is another one I'm really rooting for. Bishop was the Giants 1st round draft pick in 2019 out of Arizona State but missed the entire 2020 season due to the Minor League season being cancelled due to COVID and the 2023 season with injuries. When he was drafted, he was one of the top power prospects in the country with 22 home runs and 63 RBI in his final year in college. His scouting report lists plus power with above-average speed and arm strength but because of injuries he hasn't had much of an opportunity to showcase them outside of 2022 when he hit 13 home runs and stole 20 bases at High-A Eugene. In 2024, Bishop was assigned to AA Richmond and was an emergency promotion to AAA Sacramento as many of the AAA outfielders have been promoted to San Francisco. Since the promotion to Sacramento, Bishop has hit .455 (10-25) in 6 games with 2 doubles, 2 home runs (including an inside-the-parker), 7 RBI, and 2 stolen bases. At 25 (will turn 26 in June), he is older than most prospects, but I think and hope that people can take his injuries into account and realize that Bishop has only been playing professional baseball for 3 years. Bishop has the athleticism to play either center field or right field but has a subpar arm for a right fielder. It's possible that his ceiling may be as a 4th outfielder, but I am holding out hope that we'll see Bishop contribute at the Major League level sooner rather than later. Jung Hoo Lee is under contract through 2029 so it's possible that one of these outfielders will need to be traded to get significant playing time, but what if we could see an outfield of Lee, Matos, and Ramos, with Bishop as the designated hitter? What if Bishop moved to first base a la Bryce Harper?
Now, not every move has worked out. Casey Schmitt was called up before Luciano and looked like he was overmatched by Major League pitching. He hit only .206 in 253 at-bats (90 games) in 2023 and was hitting only .136 in 22 at-bats (6 games) this year. Defensively he's a plus at 3rd base or shortstop, but currently he's blocked at 3rd by Matt Chapman, and it appears that Luciano may have jumped him in line at shortstop. If we can put a silver lining on this however, back in February new Giants third base coach and former Giants superstar Matt Williams said in an interview that Schmitt reminds him of himself and it's important to note that Williams hit .188, .205, and .202 in his first 3 Major League seasons (1987, 1988, and 1989) respectively. It wasn't until Williams' 4th season (1990) that his bat caught up with his defense. Williams hit .277 with 33 home runs and led the National League with 122 RBI. Williams would be named to his first All Star team and finished 6th in MVP voting. Will Schmitt follow a similar career arc? Maybe, maybe not. But it would be a lot cooler if he did (doing my best Matthew McConaughey from Dazed and Confused impression).
There are plenty of other players in the minors that I would love to see as major league contributors. Logan Wyatt and Will Wilson, both currently in AA Richmond, are two names that jump to mind. Not every prospect is going to be a hit, but we can certainly hope. And the Giants have been in need of a rebuild for some time. I have long believed that the Giants will never fully embrace a rebuild because the fan-base would not accept it. The fans expect a winner and contender every year and would revolt at the thought of losing for 3-4 years in order to rebuild a team that could compete with teams like the Dodgers. But let's look at the Houston Astros as an example. The Astros began their rebuild around 2011 and endured 3 straight 100-loss seasons. All the while acquiring prospects, trading away high-priced assets, and putting together the core of their team for years to come. Since the 2017 season when the Astros won their first World Series, they have won 100 games 4 times, played in 4 World Series winning 2, and finished first in their division 6 out of 7 years finishing 2nd in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Now it seems like the Giants might be figuring out their own rebuild out of necessity.
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