The Yankees Have a Teenage Hitting Machine At The FCL

Jared Goldstein
9 minutes ago
3 min read

Richard Matic, one of the youngest players inside the Yankees organization, has been continuing his domination from the Dominican Summer League to now the Florida Complex League and is one of the purest 18-year-old hitters in the game right now.

Signing at the age of 16 for an $850,000 signing bonus as part of the 2024 International Free Agent Class out of the Dominican Republic, Matic started out playing for the Yankees' Dominican Summer League teams in 2024 and 2025. Richard Matic is someone who is bound to make the Yankees' top 30 prospects list sooner or later; his showcase of talent so far at the rookie level has been more than stellar.

Matic's professional debut season at 16 gave the Yankees plenty to build on. He slashed .196/.333/.248 (.582 OPS) with eight XBH in 46 games. Struggling in your first professional season at that age is nothing to hang your head about, especially when you're posting a 12.4 BB% and a .333 OBP, two excellent building blocks for such a young hitter. He showed he could handle advanced pitching while displaying outstanding plate discipline. Defense was the biggest question mark, though, as he committed 13 errors at third base in 2024, leading many scouts to wonder whether he'd stick at the position or eventually move across the diamond to first base.

In 2025, at just 17 years old, Matic became one of the biggest breakout performers in the DSL. He slashed an absurd .336/.487/.566 (1.053 OPS) with a ~21 BB%, 20 XBH, and a 167 wRC+ over 46 games. Matic took a massive step forward in nearly every statistic while also showing some sneaky power, increasing his exit velocity by ~7 mph from 2024. That's especially impressive considering his game is built around elite bat-to-ball skills and lightning-quick speed rather than raw power.

2025 DSL rankings:

.336 BA (16th)
.487 OBP (8th)
.566 SLG (8th)
1.053 OPS (5th)
167 wRC+ (6th)
.506 wOBA (5th)

In 2026, he has had continued success now in the Florida Complex League, but now we can see the underlying metrics on how this offensive rampage isn't just a fluke and how he's transformed into one of the best hitters in the Yankees organization. Slashing .321/.436/.494/.930 with 18 XBH and a 132 wRC+ through 42 games this season, Matic has stayed very true to his counting stats, putting up very similar numbers through close to the same amount of PA in his transition from the DSL to the FCL. The underlying metrics say that he's an all-around hitter, and he can beat you in almost every way when you factor in his speed.

2026 FCL ranks:

.321 BA (8th)
.436 OBP (10th)
.494 SLG (11th)
.930 OPS (10th)
132 wRC+ (13th)
12 2B (2nd)
29 BB (12th)

From his first season to now is a very similar player who developed in almost all of his natural skills. We saw the great discipline in his age-16 season in the DSL with a .333 OBP, and we saw it get even better the next year in the DSL and transition well into the FCL. We have also seen this year his skills with the bat: going from posting a pull% in the 50s in both years in the DSL, to now being an all-fields hitter having 30% or higher to all sides of the field. Showing no signs of slowing down, Matic is making a very legitimate case to crack the Yankees' top 30 prospects list at any given update.

Every Prospect. Every Level. Every Day.