Mateo races to four-hit night for Sounds

Jorge Mateo's speed has always been his calling card, and it was on full display Tuesday night in Sin City.
Oakland's No. 4 prospect tripled twice in his second four-hit game of the season, extending his Minor League-leading total to 12 three-baggers on the year, as Triple-A Nashville beat Las Vegas, 11-4.

"He's exciting as advertised when it's consistent," Sounds hitting coach Eric Martins said. "He's a good player. He's got all the tools and the electricity and the hype that comes behind it. It's just about being consistent with him, but he's fun to watch when things like this are happening."
Mateo's four-hit performance helped him bust out of a sluggish July stretch and started with an infield single to third base in the second inning. The shortstop then raced to third on a line drive to center field in the fourth that plated a run. After singling to right with one out in the sixth, baseball's No. 71 overall prospect batted in two more runs when he lashed his second triple to center in the seventh.
"We were all excited today because I wanted [manager Fran Riordan] to send him for the inside-the-park homer that he had a chance on (in the fourth)," Martins said. "If he would've let him try to go for an inside-the-park home run, he might've outran the guy that was at first base, so we had to put the brakes on him."
The three-RBI day matched his season-best performance, and Mateo's four-hit effort tied his total on May 3 at Colorado Springs, a game in which he hit two homers.
"The thing with him is just finishing strong," Martins said. "I talked to him earlier in the year and was saying, just to take the pressure off of him, that there's no rush to get him to the big leagues, so I don't want him putting pressure on himself. Just work on the things that we need to work on here. Trust the process. These young guys are going to take their lumps for a while here being so young."
Gameday box score
Tuesday night marked the first game of the season in which the speedster -- whose run tool rates the maximum 80 on MLB Pipeline's scouting scale -- notched multiple triples in a game. Mateo stands three shy of matching Nashville's franchise record for triples in a season with 15.
"It's fun to watch. It really is," Martins said. "You can talk about how fast he is, but until you've witnessed it and seen him on the bases, it's a real different story. Sometimes he's so fast on the bases, it's hard for him to stop. Once he gets going, man, it's really fun to watch. It's game-changing speed, that's for sure."
Mateo put up his big night out of the last spot in Nashville's lineup. The Sounds have batted the young infielder in the nine-hole to help eliminate some of the pressure of higher-leverage spots, and it's had an additional effect as well.
"What it does for me and for him is it allows him to watch the pitcher, understanding what the pitcher is trying to do to hitters, what his out pitch is, how he's pitching guys," Martins said. "It kind of helps him formulate a plan and stick with an approach to be able to go up to an at-bat prepared already.
"He was patient [tonight]. That's one thing with him is him not going up there and swinging early in the count at pitches he's not looking for. I think he only had one first-pitch swing which was a fastball, which is fine. You get that first-pitch fastball in the zone that you're looking for, you get a good swing off of it, I have no problem with that. But it's going up and swinging early in the count with no plan and no approach and just swinging at a pitch because it looks like it's going to be a strike [that's a problem]. He controlled the zone today. He had some really good at-bats."

The month of July had not been kind to Mateo prior to Tuesday. Through his first 21 games, the Dominican Republic native batted just .181/.272/.236. That came on the heels of his best month of the year, during which Mateo amassed a .271/.323/.425 line in 25 June contests, but despite his July struggles, the coaching staff knew things were headed in the right direction.
"We've worked so much this year on different things individually and stuff with guys that now it's just trusting the process," Martins said. "Just trust what you've worked on all year and not change anything. Today was a good start. We had a day off yesterday, and he's had really good at-bats over the last month and hasn't really had the results. He's controlled the zone and hasn't chased very much. I think today he got deep into some counts and was able to put some good swings on the ball, but just like I said, it's just trusting the process."
Oakland's No. 19 prospect Ramón Laureano went 4-for-6 with a home run, double and three RBIs from the leadoff spot. Laureano also threw out a runner at second base for his 13th outfield assist in 57 games with the Sounds.