San Francisco Giants Star Turned Heads With Award in Prominent Winter League

After winning an award in a prominent Winter League, one of the San Francisco Giants young players could be on his way to becoming a breakout star.

Jun 30, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants left fielder Luis Matos (29) jogs to the dugout after scoring a run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning at Oracle Park / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants were able to make a splash this offseason by landing star shortstop Willy Adames to take over that position for the foreseeable future.

While this move helps them compete now, it also should make them a better team going forward since it allows Tyler Fitzgerald to move over to second base, the position he's better at defensively with an Outs Above Average value at plus-1 compared to minus-4 at shortstop.

But, that also created some more questions about how some of their other young players might factor into things.

Top prospects Marco Luciano and Luis Matos seem to be getting squeezed out, especially the former, who was expected to be the team's shortstop of the future.

While Matos hasn't been as directly impacted by this winter's moves, the Giants' decision to add Jung Hoo Lee last offseason created a crowded outfield, something that reduced his playing time in 2024.

Both are young players - Luciano is 23 and Matos is 22 - but it's not a given that either of them will be factors in San Francisco going forward like it was once expected.

Fortunately, designated hitter could be an option for this duo if they can hit at a high level, and based on what Matos just did in the Venezuelan Winter League, he could break through with his bat.

Luis Matos (@SFGiants) just won the Rookie of the Year award in the Venezuelan Winter League, for Tiburones de La Guaira playing under Manager Ozzie Guillén.

He received 54 out of 55 first place votes.

Matos played in 55 games, with a .300 AVG, 10 HR, 66 hits, and 44 RBI pic.twitter.com/ZyUnqahrJQ

— Carlos M. Ramírez (@Tomapapa) January 6, 2025

Those are monster numbers.

Putting up a .300 batting average with 10 blasts and 44 RBI across 55 games is certainly something that will catch the eye of the Giants as they head into Spring Training.

Matos hasn't quite been given ample opportunity to showcase himself on offense, but a lot of that has to do with the struggles he's had during his limited Major League career thus far.

Across 121 games and 409 plate appearances, he has slashed .235/.287/.344 with seven homers, 39 RBI and an OPS+ of 78, not quite the numbers that keeps him at the MLB level.

What was more concerning was he took a step back last year compared to in 2023, going from an OPS+ of 85 with a batting average of .250 to an OPS+ of 66 and .213 batting average.

Hopefully, this time in the Venezuelan Winter League has allowed him to break through at the plate, giving himself a better opportunity to be an impact player with San Francisco, while also giving the team another offensive weapon.

Only time will tell, but this is a great sign to see.