SAN FRANCISCO – The Giants’ 2022-23 offseason was marked by the hunt for a superstar and the unprecedented experience they had with Carlos Correa. This time around, the Giants won’t be looking for a shortstop despite Brandon Crawford’s uncertain future.
President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi said during his season-ending media session that Marco Luciano is the leading candidate for the Opening Day shortstop position, with the hope that the job will continue to be his for years to come.
“As we sit here now, we want to give Marco Luciano the chance to be the everyday guy next year,” Zaidi said on Tuesday. “If anything, his call-up was delayed by the injury he sustained this year. We would have liked to have seen him up here a little longer, but he’s worked his way up and earned this opportunity and we’re really excited about what we’ve seen over the last few weeks.”
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“We want to give Marco Luciano the chance to be the everyday person next year.”
– Farhan on the Giants’ vacancy at shortstop pic.twitter.com/TPzhmhekp0
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) October 3, 2023
Luciano missed all of spring training with a back injury and started the season in Double-A. He ended up playing just 18 games in two stints in Triple-A. In 14 big league games, he had a .231/.333/.308 slash line with three doubles, six walks and 17 strikeouts in 45 plate appearances. The numbers didn’t jump off the page, but the ball certainly jumped off Luciano’s racket.
Luciano had an average exit velocity of 93 mph, which would have ranked 14th in the major leagues had he had enough plate appearances to qualify, right between Rafael Devers and Julio Rodriguez. It was a very small sample, but his walk rate would also have been among the league leaders.
The Giants have seen enough on the field to feel comfortable that Luciano can handle the growing pains of a full rookie season in the big leagues, and they’ve also seen enough on defense. Crawford has set the bar incredibly high, but the staff believes Luciano can play shortstop in the big leagues, which was doubtful given his size as he struggled through the minors.
“I’m optimistic and it’s hard not to be considering how young he is,” said reserve coach and interim manager Kai Correa, who trains the Giants’ infielders. “I think this year is a huge step forward in terms of the consistency of the work he’s done with the player development group, the consistency of the work he’s done in the offseason at Papago (in Scottsdale), to be more solid To become a field player.” the routine game.
“We are all familiar with the high-end skills he possesses. The raw power, the arm strength, the ability to run for a guy his size, but now we’re seeing him implement the routine game in a simpler way.” There’s still a lot to learn, but as a starting point we have this Season saw the benefits of his work.
Luciano is the best prospect the Giants have ever had since Buster Posey, and he reached the major leagues before his 22nd birthday. If he can reach his potential next year, the Giants could benefit from more than just on-field performance.
Luciano’s rookie status is intact, and if he were to be named Rookie of the Year next season, the Giants would receive an additional draft pick at the end of the first round, an extremely valuable prize. A rule in the new CBA gave the Seattle Mariners the 29th pick last year (for Julio Rodriguez) and will also benefit the Arizona Diamondbacks if Corbin Carroll wins the award next month.
It would be a nice bonus, but for the Giants, that decision depends on other factors. If Crawford decides to keep playing, it won’t be in San Francisco, and the organization finally has a homegrown shortstop with a chance to replace the best shortstop in franchise history.
When asked about Luciano during an interview airing Thursday on the Giants Talk Podcast, Zaidi cited “the pure talent level” and the “improvement we’ve seen this year.”
“Since we signed him, there’s been a question about whether he would need to move to third base, and I think what he’s proven this year is that he can play good shortstop, which we have in both the minor leagues and “It’s just the improvement, it’s the overall development, and then you can see the talent every time he’s on the field. That he’s really working on his baseball -Skill level to get it to where it is now is really important to us.” I want to give him the opportunity to take this job and move on.
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