Champ or Chump: Matt Manning and Luis Matos Fantasy Baseball Outlooks

Matt Manning and Luis Matos are a pair of young players looking to find their way in the big leagues. Can either player bounce back from a slow start to provide value to fantasy managers in Week 11 and beyond? Brenton Kemp dives in to answer this question.

We are nearing the summer months of the 2024 Major League Baseball season and with plenty of baseball on the horizon, fantasy managers will need to keep their finger on the pulse of any and all options available to aid their championship aspirations.

The Detroit Tigers' Matt Manning, a former top pitching prospect, has had notable consistency issues in his young big-league career while failing to deliver the type of strikeout upside he has displayed in his minor-league tenure. As for young Giants outfielder Luis Matos, the 22-year-old has just 339 MLB plate appearances under his belt but has yet to live up to his prospect hype.

Let's see if either of these players can get things turned around and help out fantasy managers in Week 11 of the fantasy baseball season and beyond.

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Matt Manning (SP, DET) - 2% Rostered

The latest Tigers rebuild figured to be on the back of their 'big three' pitching prospects in Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, and Manning. While Skubal is blossoming into a legitimate ace and American League Cy Young contender and Mize is ramping up after Tommy John surgery in 2024, Manning has split his time between the minors and majors in the 2024 campaign as consistency issues continue to plague the 26-year-old.

The Tigers added veterans Jack Flaherty and Kenta Maeda to their rotation this past offseason, leaving Manning on the outside looking in coming out of spring training. As a result, he's made five outings with both the Tigers and Triple-A Toledo this season, working to a 3.75 ERA in the minors but also a 4.88 ERA (and a 4.85 SIERA) in the big leagues.

The bulk of frustration with Manning is his inability to translate his big-time strikeout numbers in the minors to the majors. The righty owns a 30.9% K% with Toledo this season but only an 18.7% clip with the Tigers. It's a continuation from years past and one the organization (and prospective fantasy managers) hoped would be figured out at this point.

As a result, it certainly appears Manning is a chump at this juncture in his career, at least until he is able to figure out a way to generate some more whiffs, as his 8.1% career swinging strikeout rate leaves plenty to be desired.

Luis Matos (OF, SF) - 21% Rostered

A rash of injuries to the Giants' outfield in the 2023 season paved the way for a young Matos to make his big-league debut at just 21 years of age. Predictably, Matos didn't set the world on fire out of the gate, hitting .250 with a pair of homers, three stolen bases, and a .661 OPS across 253 trips to the plate.

Fast forward to the 2024 campaign, split between the Giants and Triple-A Sacramento, and the now 22-year-old has limped to a .220 average with two homers, zero steals, and a .573 OPS across 86 big-league plate appearances, production that is 39% below the league average, as per his 61 wRC+. Making matters worse is his .218 average, three homers, three steals, and a .663 OPS in 31 games at Triple-A, good for a 66 wRC+ that sits 34% below the league average.

Matos exploded for two homers, three doubles, and 16 RBI across a four-game stretch from May 13 to May 18 but has not logged an extra-base hit since with just three RBI in that time. He is just 1-for-20 with a walk over his last five contests.

Luis Matos earns the NL Player of the Week honors after the stretch that landed him on the record books! He went 10-for-26 (.385), hit 2 home runs, 3 doubles, and put up 16 RBIs with a 1.110 OPS! The last Giant to be named as POTW was Brandon Belt back in 2018. #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/2PdSHoE7OX

— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiantsFans) May 20, 2024

With Jung Hoo Lee (out for the season, shoulder), Michael Conforto, Austin Slater, and LaMonte Wade Jr. all sidelined in the club's outfield, Matos has been afforded everyday reps of late. However, he's been unable to take advantage, leaving him as a chump for Week 11 and likely for the remainder of the 2024 season as the youngster will likely be squeezed out of playing time with a healthier outfield group in the Bay Area moving forward.

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