Rayner Arias Goes Deep for First Time

Let’s talk a little Luis Matos! The high-rising 21-year-old made Baseball America’s Hot Sheet this week as the #2 hottest guy in the minors over the last week. A quick sample of the writeup:

The Scoop: After a trying 2022 season, Matos has reverted to something closer to the form he showed during his breakout season of 2021. Part of the breakout is simply being healthy. Another part is making better swing decisions and finding a consistent approach. The results have been loud.

If I’m not mistaken, BA is going to roll out a full, new mid-season Top 100 re-rank in the next week, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Matos jump back into his Top 100 status. BA also will have a new Top 30 for the Giants next week, so stay tuned for the highlights from that. It’s important to remember, of course, that Top 100 status is more or less meaningless — it doesn’t add any points to an OPS or develop any key skills to a higher degree. But it provides a little validation and gives a window into industry thinking. Probably it only really comes into play in trade talks, where it can legitimately play into conversations for major deals.

I suppose I should start thinking about a little re-ranking of my own in the coming weeks. Maybe I’ll need to take a trip out west first. But I think I can say that Luis will take a step back up for me. The dance of how to evaluated Matos and Grant McCray with regard to each other goes on…

Speaking of things to start thinking about….the trade deadline will start becoming a story over the next month or so — and apparently the PoBO has planted his flag publicly that the Giants plan to be a buyer. In a recorded interview with XM’s “Front Office” show, with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette, Zaidi was quoted as saying:

“We think we have everything we need to compete within the walls of our clubhouse, but the trade deadline is a long ways away. Injuries can happen, other things can happen. As we approach it, it’s really a goal of ours to be in the playoffs this year. So, I think we’ll be aggressive when we get to [the trade deadline].”

That doesn’t sound like Zaidi is contemplating major acquisitions — barring injuries — but they will be looking to supplement the current roster in pursuit of the organizational goal of making the post-season every year (this is a year!). That means that the closer we get to the end of July, the more the farm system could be leaned on for trade capital. And with a reasonable amount of good stories brewing this season, there certainly are a lot of potential chips that might be used for various price tiers.

I’ll just leave those two stories up there to marinate with each other, and turn our attention to the events of the day …. like a $2.6 million dollar bonus baby belting his first professional home run!

HITTER of the DAY: Rayner Arias (DSL), 3 for 5, HR (1), 3 R, 3 RBI, BB, SB (1)
PITCHER of the NIGHT: Hayden Birdsong (SJ), 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K

Let’s get to the lines…