KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was round this time final yr that the Giants’ high baseball official declared him their shortstop heading into this season. It’s been 4 months since he was alleged to get a “good shot” on the job. 9 weeks because the group dealt its designated hitter to open at-bats for him.
Marco Luciano is taking all of it in stride.
“Playing time is something that you earn. It’s not something that they’re going to give to you. I’m well aware that I have not performed to my ability,” the newly 23-year-old high prospect mentioned Friday in Spanish via group interpreter Erwin Higueros. “But I do know that I have the talent. I do know that I can play. Obviously when I get an opportunity to play, that’s what I’m trying to show: that I do belong.”
In a 10-minute interview previous to the Giants’ sequence opener towards the Royals, Luciano was courteous, diplomatic {and professional}, even when he had each proper to be confused concerning the group’s dealing with of the participant thought of their high prospect since he was 17 years outdated.
His title was penciled within the lineup for the primary time in 4 video games and for under the eighth time in 16 video games since being referred to as up from Triple-A 3 days into September, when supervisor Bob Melvin outlined the most recent iteration of their plans for Luciano to get the majority of the enjoying time at second base.
Solely after being mathematically eradicated Sunday was Melvin comfy inserting Luciano into the beginning lineup, and solely with Mason Black, not one in all their premier beginning pitchers, on the mound. Even then, within the seventh inning, Melvin subbed in Donovan Walton as a defensive substitute to guard their 2-0 lead.
“You know, we’re officially out of it now,” Melvin mentioned earlier than Friday’s sport, explaining the choice to begin Luciano after enjoying Walton, a 30-year-old minor-league journeyman, at second base the previous three video games in Baltimore. “We’re still playing teams that are in the race, so we’ll pick our spots with him. I can’t let him sit too long. But there’s a lot that factors into it, right? You’ve got to factor in everything. Performance, too.”
Luciano is the primary to confess he hasn’t carried out as much as his personal expectations within the restricted alternatives he has acquired on the big-league stage.
In spring coaching, he struck out in 35% of his plate appearances and batted .227, prompting the group to offer the Opening Day job to veteran free agent Nick Ahmed. When Ahmed landed on the injured checklist, Luciano took full benefit of his probability offensively however made 5 errors at shortstop. Since shifting to second base, he’s made errors to be anticipated from a participant studying a brand new place and allowed his defensive difficulties to bleed into his manufacturing on the plate.
He has three hits, two walks and 14 strikeouts in 33 plate appearances this month, reducing his batting common to .211 and OPS to .562. He’s 126 plate appearances into his big-league profession and nonetheless in quest of his first house run, regardless of slugging at a .456 charge all through his time within the minor leagues.
“I think I just have to continue to work,” Luciano mentioned. “I think the only bright spot (of this season) is that sometimes I’ve been good in my batting, my hitting, but I haven’t been consistent. … At this time, my frame of mind is, I don’t care where the manager, where they want me to play. They want me to play second, short, in the outfield, I really don’t care where I play. My main concern is I just want to get at-bats.”
It stays an open dialogue within the group whether or not Luciano will play winter ball in his native Dominican Republic for a 3rd straight offseason. He was the highest draft decide within the Dominican Winter League three years in the past however aggravated his again harm in 2022 and struggled mightily final winter.
He informed The Athletic earlier this month that he deliberate to skip winter ball and as a substitute exercise along with his longtime coach, Edwin Castillo. However on Friday, he mentioned, “I could play, but I haven’t made up my mind. It’s not a sure thing yet” and declined to debate the subject additional.
Melvin mentioned, “We brought it up. We’ll see how it goes and how the season ends. I don’t think anything has been decided there.”
Luciano’s positional future is simply as a lot of an open query, with evaluators’ long-held doubts about his means to stay within the infield largely vindicated by his defensive show this season and the Giants’ choice to maneuver him off shortstop.
Melvin was requested about Luciano’s long-term defensive outlook however might solely reply for the right here and now.
“Right now,” he mentioned, “it’s in the middle of the infield, could be second or short.”
Melvin acknowledged that the event Luciano requires is “hard” to realize with the inconsistent enjoying time he’s gotten however pushed again on the notion that the group has given him blended messages, saying, “Look, he’s going to come to the ballpark and if his name is in the lineup, he’s going to play.
“Mixed messaging, I don’t know. Performance plays, too Yeah, there were some times that it looked like he might get some more at-bats and it hasn’t been consistent. It is what is.”
Luciano continues to take floor balls at second base and shortstop throughout pregame infield drills. When he’s not within the lineup, he mentioned, he’s attempting to study via osmosis. “Watching our players, watching the other team, watching what they’re doing, watching mistakes that they’re making, watching how they adjust.”
It’s all made for fairly a special temperature than this time final season, when Luciano took over for Brandon Crawford within the closing inning of their final sport in what seemed to be a coronation and a altering of the guard from one franchise shortstop to a different.
That very same week, Farhan Zaidi mentioned, “We view Marco as our shortstop next year.”
The Giants have eight video games left on their schedule, however Melvin couldn’t assure what number of would function Luciano.
“There’s no real recipe for how many games the rest of the way. We’ll just see how the at-bats go and how he performs,” Melvin mentioned. “We’ll see what the offseason brings for him. But it ended up being, at least at the big-league level, maybe not what he expected and maybe not what we expected.”
Initially Printed: September 21, 2024 at 9:08 a.m.
