Following a weekend where he etched his name into the history books, Luis Matos was named the National League’s Player of the Week, the first time in his career that he has claimed the honor.
In six games last week, the 22-year-old went 10-for-26 (.385 batting average) with two home runs, three doubles and 16 RBI. Matos became the youngest player in major-league history with at least five RBIs in back-to-back games, driving in five runs on Friday followed by six more on Saturday.
Additionally, Matos’ 11 RBIs during the Giants’ three-game series against the Rockies tied a franchise record. He joins Jack Clark, who had 11 RBIs against the Pirates from May 28-30, 1982, as well as Jeff Kent, who had 11 RBIs against the Reds from July 24-26, 1998.
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“It just seems like he’s tracking the ball every time up,” said manager Bob Melvin on Saturday. “He’s aggressive. He’s wearing that left-center field gap out. … It’s like player of the week stuff that he’s doing right now.”
Along with his offensive output, Matos orchestrated one of the best defensive plays of the season, robbing Teoscar Hernández of a home run as the Giants avoided being swept by the Dodgers.
Luis Matos makes an INCREDIBLE catch at the wall. pic.twitter.com/ksJls1lIlF
— MLB (@MLB) May 16, 2024
“He’s a showman,” said Logan Webb of Matos’ catch. “That’s what excites people and excites us. He saved us a run today, so it was awesome.”
With his statistical output, Matos provided a much-needed jolt of good vibes at a time when they were desperately needed. On Friday, right before the first of Matos’ back-to-back offensive explosions, the Giants announced that Jung Hoo Lee would undergo season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
With Lee’s rookie year over, Matos stands to take over as the team’s starting center fielder. So far, Matos has been doing more than enough to hold his own. In eight games, Matos is 10-for-30 (.333 batting average) with two home runs, three doubles, four runs scored and 17 RBI.
Matos isn’t the only young player who will receive extended run. With Nick Ahmed on the injured list, Marco Luciano stands to get a good amount of time at shortstop. In four games, Luciano is 4-for-12 (.333) with an RBI, two walks and two doubles.
“It was a chance to give him a few more reps, but we feel like it’s a good time to get him out there and give him a good shot at this job,” president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said. “We brought him up with the thought that at some point here we were going to get him in the lineup and get him some run at shortstop…Really we think every game he plays kind of builds his case as a major-league shortstop.”
Aaron Judge was named the American League’s Player of the Week, going 10-for-20 (.500 batting average) with three homers, five RBIs, five doubles, seven walks and seven runs scored.
