McCray, Matos are battling for fourth spot in the outfield

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The Giants’ Grant McCray scores as Colorado Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings waits for a late throw during the fourth inning of a spring training game on Monday in Scottsdale, Ariz. ROSS D. FRANKLIN – THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Justice delos Santos

Bay Area News Group

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. >> The competition for the fifth spot in the Giants’ rotation has been a talking point since the first day of camp. Every time Landen Roupp or Hayden Birdsong or Kyle Harrison takes the mound, the narrative stands to shift in some respect. For all those headlines, the battle for the fourth outfield job, though, is not without its own intrigue.

Especially given how well its two competitors are playing.

Grant McCray and Luis Matos both furthered their cases to make the Opening Day roster as the Giants beat the Rockies, 8-2, on Monday afternoon at Salt River Fields. McCray had a single, a double, a walk, a steal and scored two runs while Matos, the favorite to win the job, smashed a 108.2 mph single, stole a base of his own and scored a run.

“Grant’s been playing great now after a little bit of a tough time and striking out early on,” said manager Bob Melvin. “Luis has been swinging the bat pretty consistently the whole time. It’s good to have competition.”

With roughly two weeks of Cactus League games remaining, McCray is enjoying a bit of a statistical edge over Matos. McCray, who made his debut last season, owns a .346 batting average and .952 OPS with a team-leading four stolen bases while Matos, the reigning Rookie of the Year in the Venezuelan Winter League, is hitting .324 with a .795 OPS. For McCray, he wants more of a challenge whenever he reaches base.

Matos, 23, makes more sense to win the job for the Opening Day roster. Along with having more major-league experience (121 games) than McCray (37 games), the Giants can platoon Matos with right fielder Mike Yastrzemski against left-handed pitching. Matos, a right-handed hitter, has a career .273 batting average and .758 OPS against lefties in the majors whereas Yastrzemski has a .223 batting average and .686 OPS.

McCray could also benefit from more seasoning with Triple-A Sacramento. For comparison, the A’s Zack Gelof had the worst strikeout rate among all qualified hitters at 34.4%.