SF Giants acquire 1B/OF Matt Beaty from Royals to fill out Opening Day roster

The SF Giants rounded out their Opening Day roster with a minor trade. They acquired 1B/OF Matt Beaty from the Kansas City Royals for cash.

The SF Giants rounded out their Opening Day roster on Thursday with a minor trade, acquiring first baseman/outfielder Matt Beaty from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for cash considerations. Beaty is a familiar face to Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler who overlapped with the corner bat during his time in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Beaty has a .249/.320/.405 career MLB triple-slash with 18 home runs in 603 plate appearances over the past four seasons.

Dodgers pinch hitter Matt Beaty drives in a run against the SF Giants during the 2021 NLDS / Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

After inking a minor-league deal with the Royals this offseason, Beaty crushed his competition in spring training. He recorded four doubles and a pair of home runs alongside a .343/.378/.629 triple-slash in 37 plate appearances with a walk and six strikeouts. However, Beaty was unable to crack the Royals roster and, instea,d will start the season with the third National League West team of his career.

Beaty was drafted by the Dodgers in the 12th round of the 2015 MLB Draft out of Belmont University. Over the next few years, the left-handed bat hit his way to the majors, making his big-league debut in 2019. In his first MLB season, Beaty was a key contributor for the Dodgers, hitting .265/.317/.458 with 19 doubles and 9 home runs in 99 games.

The slugger slumped through the pandemic-shortened 2020 season before bouncing back in 2021. Beaty made 234 plate appearances in 120 games, playing in a strict platoon, recording an above-average .270/.363/.403 triple-slash with 4 doubles and 7 homers.

Prior to last season, the Dodgers traded Beaty to another Giants' division rival, the San Diego Padres, receiving pitching prospect River Ryan in return. San Diego planned to utilize Beaty off the bench as a pinch-hitter, occasionally starting him in the outfield against right-handed pitching. However, injuries derailed his season. Beaty posted an abysmal .093/.170/.163 triple-slash in 47 plate appearances with the Pads before he was placed on the 60-day injured list with a shoulder injury in May. He returned to the field before the end of the season but continued struggling and was subsequently released.

Beaty has always been best known for his ability to make contact and avoid striking out. While that has given him an aggressive approach that has generated walks at a below-average rate, he's also struck out in just over 16.4% of his career plate appearances against MLB pitching. Splits have also been a huge part of Beaty's game, including at the minor-league level, leading teams to almost exclusively use him against right-handed pitching.

It remains to be seen whether the SF Giants view Matt Beaty as a long-term contributor or are simply hoping to add him to the organization's minor-league depth in the next month. However, it's hard not to notice the similarities between Beaty and first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr., who is coming off a down 2022 season. If Beaty excels with the Giants, that could put even more pressure on Wade to perform.