Luis

Matos

Matos is up for the series and season finale against the Cardinals. The 22-year-old outfielder takes the roster spot of Mark Canha, as Canha was diagnosed with a left thumb strain. Matos still has long-term upside but needs to show he can do it consistently at the highest level.

Matos appears to be a victim of the Tyler Fitzgerald injury, since the Giants need an extra infielder more than outfielder at the moment. Matos was 2-for-10 with a homer since being recalled Sept. 3.

Matos will head to San Francisco to occupy a bench role for the home stretch of the regular season. There isn’t much of a path to regular at-bats moving forward, which extinguishes any hope of him making a significant fantasy impact.

The Giants claimed outfielder Derek Hill off of waivers and he was added to the active roster on Wednesday, which cost Matos his spot on the roster. He’ll return to an everyday role at the Triple-A level until the Giants have another need for an outfielder.

The 33-year-old outfielder was pulled from Thursday’s game as a precautionary measure after being hit in the elbow by a pitch. It sounds like Yastrzemski was able to avoid any significant injury, but he’s still a bit sore and will sit against right-hander Tanner Bibee on Friday night. Luis Matos will start in his place in right field and will bat seventh for the Giants on Friday evening.

Matos was recalled after Mike Yastrzemski hit the injured list last week. He’s collected at least one hit in all four starts, including a solo homer in the fifth inning off of Drew Smyly on Wednesday. The 22-year-old outfielder is slashing .253/.272/.374 with three homers and 21 RBI across 103 plate appearances. Given his bat-to-ball skills and improved hard-hit rate, he should get a chance to continue improving on his .253 BABIP and could be relevant in five-outfielder leagues.

Matos gets the call to rejoin San Francisco’s crowded outfield mix with Mike Yastrzemski hitting the injured list with an oblique strain. The 22-year-old former top prospect was ostensibly beaten out by Heliot Ramos for the starting center field job a couple weeks ago and figures to play sparingly moving forward.

Matos cooled off quickly after a big start for the Giants, going 9-for-59 with no extra-base hits in his last 14 games. He’s still just 22 years old, and he’ll definitely get more chances, but the Giants are picking Heliot Ramos over him for now.

Blake Snell went on the IL, allowing the Giants a chance to push back the decision on which hitter to cut to make room for Conforto. Heliot Ramos will be displaced from left field by Conforto’s return, but he figures to remain in the lineup the majority of the time, probably at Luis Matos’s expense.

Matos was 0-for-3 in the contest before his fly to left entered the game. It’s hard to say if the Giants will keep both he and Heliot Ramos after Michael Conforto comes off the IL, something that should happen this weekend. The Giants consider Matos the better option in center, but Ramos has been the more impressive hitter to date.