Jorge Mateo

Jorge Luis Mateo

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 192 lb.

• Debut August 13, 2020

• Born June 23, 1995 in Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional D.R.

BR page

Biographical Information

Shortstop Jorge Mateo was signed to his first professional contract by the New York Yankees on January 28, 2012. He was only 17 at the time and spent two seasons in the Dominican Summer League in 2012 and 2013 before moving to the United States in 2014. His first season there was with the GCL Yankees 1, where he hit .276 in 15 games. He graduated to full-season ball in 2015, when he played 117 games between the Charleston RiverDogs and the Tampa Yankees. He put up good numbers, hitting .278/.345/.392 with 66 runs.

In 2016, he spent a full season with Tampa in the Florida State League and hit .254 with 8 homers and 47 RBIs in 113 games. He returned to Tampa at the start of 2017, and after hitting .250 in 69 games, received a promotion to AA, where he was with the Trenton Thunder of the Eastern League for 30 games. His bat picked up there, as he hit .300 during that span. On July 31st, he was one of three players traded to the Oakland Athletics in return for P Sonny Gray, the others being OF Dustin Fowler and P James Kaprielian. He moved to the Texas League and finished the season with the Midland RockHounds, where he continued to hit well, with a .292 average in 30 games. Between the three stops, he played 129 games and hit .267/.322/.459, with 30 doubles, 18 triples and 12 homers. He also stole 52 bases. Most of his power production came in AA, but it was in the FSL that he was a mid-season All-Star, as he had already been in 2016.

Mateo spent the entire 2018 season in AAA with the Nashville Sounds of the Pacific Coast League. However, his production was underwhelming, as he batted .230/.280/.353 in 131 games. He did hit 17 doubles and 16 triples, but just 3 homers. In 2019, the A's changed AAA affiliates, and he had a much better season with the Las Vegas Aviators. He was named to the American League team for the 2019 Futures Game, and improved to .289/.330/.504 in 119 games, with plenty of extra bases: 29 doubles, 14 triples and 19 homers. He also scored 95 runs and drove in 78, and he was a mid-season All-Star in the PCL. In fact, his hitting profile was very similar to that of the A's major league shortstop, Marcus Semien, who had finished third in the MVP vote. So this was both a tribute to Jorge's batting line, but also a problem as his path was clearly blocked at the major league level, especially since he was out of minor league options by that point.

On June 30, 2020, Mateo was the first player to change teams after the freeze on transactions imposed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic was lifted. The A's sent him to the San Diego Padres in exchange for future considerations (OF Junior Perez was sent to Oakland on November 5th to complete the transaction). He made his major league debut with the Padres three weeks into the season, on August 13th, going 0 for 3 in an 11-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Notable Achievements

• AL Stolen Bases Leader (2022)

Related Sites

• Jorge Mateo on mlb.com
• BR Minors page