Luis Matos has yet to hit one of the booming home runs he was known for in the minors, but the Giants prospect quietly has been making a profound impact since his MLB debut Wednesday.
In fact, his impact has been historic.
Matos is not only the first player in Giants history to walk at least five times and score at least six runs in his first three big league games — he’s the first player in major league history to do so, as Twitter user @bantheshift discovered via Stathead and shared Sunday.
The Giants promoted Matos to the big leagues this past week after the outfielder dominated in Triple-A, slashing .398/.435/.685 with seven home runs, 20 RBI and seven walks in 24 games. His hot streak had Giants fans pleading for a call-up, and Mitch Haniger’s unfortunate injury cleared the way for Matos while the team was in St. Louis.
In 13 plate appearances for the Giants so far, Matos has three hits, five walks and six runs scored, with a .615 on-base percentage to pair with his .375 batting average. He has jumpstarted more than one Giants rally with his watchful eye since his highly anticipated call-up, and that’s an excellent sign of even more good things to come with his bat.
Matos is also the only player in MLB history with more than five runs and five walks in his first three games, per Stathead. There have been 10 players in addition to Matos to score at least four runs and walk four times in their first three MLB games, the most recent being Yordan Alvarez with the Houston Astros in 2019.
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The future is now for San Francisco, which has reaped the benefits of multiple call-ups this season. Rookies like Casey Schmitt, Patrick Bailey and Matos are ushering in a new era of Giants baseball, and there are even more prospects waiting for their name to be called.
The Giants’ front office and fans alike knew Matos would shine given the opportunity, and so far, so good for the 21-year-old.
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