KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was around this time last year that the Giants’ top baseball official named him shortstop before the season began. It’s been four months since he was supposed to have a “good shot” at the job. Nine weeks since the team assigned its designated hitter to open for him.
Marco Luciano takes all this philosophically.
“Playing time is something you deserve. It’s not something you’re going to be given. I’m well aware that I haven’t played to the level of my abilities,” the 23-year-old newcomer said Friday in Spanish, through team interpreter Erwin Higueros. “But I know I have the talent. I know I can play. Obviously, when I have the opportunity to play, that’s what I try to show: that I belong.”
In a 10-minute interview before the Giants’ series opener against the Royals, Luciano was courteous, diplomatic and professional, even though he had every right to be confused about the organization’s handling of the player considered their top prospect since he was 17.
His name was in the lineup for the first time in four games and just the eighth time in 16 games since he was recalled from Triple-A three days into September, when manager Bob Melvin outlined the latest iteration of their plans for Luciano to get the bulk of the playing time at second base.
It was only after being mathematically eliminated on Sunday that Melvin could feel comfortable inserting Luciano into the starting lineup, and only with Mason Black, who is not one of their best starting pitchers, on the mound. Even then, in the seventh inning, Melvin replaced Donovan Walton as a defensive replacement to protect their 2-0 lead.
“You know, we’re officially out of the game now,” Melvin said before Friday’s game, explaining the decision to start Luciano after starting Walton, a 30-year-old minor leaguer, at second base the last three games in Baltimore. “We’re always playing teams that are in the race, so we’ll pick our spots with him. I can’t keep him on the bench too long. But there’s a lot of factors to consider, right? You have to take everything into account. Performance, too.”
Luciano is the first to admit that he hasn’t lived up to his own expectations in the limited opportunities he’s received at the major league level.
In training camp, he struck out 35 percent of his at-bats and hit .227, prompting the organization to sign veteran free agent Nick Ahmed. When Ahmed was placed on the injured list, Luciano took full advantage of his opportunity offensively, but committed five errors at shortstop. Since moving to second base, he has made predictable mistakes for a player learning a new position and has let his defensive struggles affect his production at the plate.
He had three hits, two walks and 14 strikeouts in 33 plate appearances this month, which lowered his batting average to .211 and his OPS to .562. He has made 126 plate appearances in his major league career and is still searching for his first home run, despite a .456 hitting percentage throughout his minor league stint.
“I think I have to keep working,” Luciano said. “I think the only positive (from this season) is that at times I’ve been good at batting, hitting, but I haven’t been consistent. … Right now, my mindset is: I don’t care where the manager wants me to play. They want me to play second, shortstop, outfield, I really don’t care where I play. My main concern is to compete.”
Whether Luciano will play winter baseball in his native Dominican Republic for a third straight offseason remains an open question within the organization. He was the first overall pick in the Dominican Winter League draft three years ago, but his back injury flared up in 2022 and he struggled mightily last winter.
He told The Athletic earlier this month that he planned to sit out the winter and train with his longtime coach, Edwin Castillo. But on Friday, he said, “I could play, but I haven’t made my decision yet. It’s not a sure thing yet,” and declined to discuss the topic further.
Melvin said: “We’ve talked about it. We’ll see how it goes and how the season ends. I don’t think anything has been decided on that.”
Luciano’s positional future is equally uncertain, with evaluators’ long-standing doubts about his ability to stick in the infield largely justified by his defensive performance this season and the Giants’ decision to move him out of shortstop.
Melvin was asked about Luciano’s long-term defensive outlook, but could only answer for the here and now.
“Right now,” he said, “he’s in the middle of the infield, he could be second or short.”
Melvin acknowledged that the development Luciano needs is “difficult” to achieve with the inconsistent playing time he’s gotten, but pushed back on the idea that the organization has sent him mixed messages, saying: “Listen, he’s going to come to the ballpark and if his name’s on the roster, he’s going to play.
“Mixed messages, I don’t know. Performances, too. Yeah, there were times when it looked like he could get more at-bats, but it wasn’t consistent. That’s just the way it is.”
Luciano continues to take ground balls at second base and shortstop in pregame drills. When he’s not in the lineup, he said, he tries to learn by osmosis. “Watching our players, watching the other team, watching what they do, watching the mistakes they make, watching how they adjust.”
It all created a much different temperature than this time last season, when Luciano replaced Brandon Crawford in the final inning of their final game in what appeared to be a coronation and changing of the guard from one franchise shortstop to another.
That same week, Farhan Zaidi said: “We see Marco as our shortstop next year.”
The Giants have eight games remaining on their schedule, but Melvin can’t guarantee how many of those will feature Luciano.
“There’s no real formula for how many games he’s going to play down the road. We’ll see how his at-bats go and how he performs,” Melvin said. “We’ll see what the offseason brings. But ultimately, it may not have been what he expected, at least at the major league level, and maybe not what we expected.”
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