2 young SF Giants players who deserve an extended look when rosters expand

Rosters expand to 28 players in September. For the SF Giants, it gives them an opportunity to give an extended look to two more players on their 40-man roster. Marco Luciano and Tristan Beck look like ideal candidates to add when rosters expand next week.

2 young SF Giants players who deserve an extended look when rosters expand

Since the Giants are almost entirely out of the playoff picture at this point, they can shift their focus to preparing for next season. That might mean a change in how Bob Melvin manages the roster in the final month of the season. Veteran players on expiring contracts like Michael Conforto could see more time on the bench to give those at-bats to younger players.

In the past, teams could bring up their entire 40-man roster in September if they so desired. That was rare, if not unheard of. More often than not, teams would bring up a handful of players, especially pitchers, who had a chance of seeing time with the club.

I can see both sides of this. However, this might be my "old man yells at cloud" moment because I do prefer the old way of allowing teams to leverage their entire 40-man roster. At times, it became a cool opportunity to reward veteran minor leaguers such as Scott McClain or Jalal Leach while giving them one of their only chances in the majors.

Of course, expanding rosters to 30 or 35 players really dragged down the pace of play. This was before the three-batter minimum for pitchers. Teams like the Giants would leverage the extra pitchers on the roster to deploy extreme bullpening. Perhaps, some day baseball can agree to expand rosters to 30.

1. Marco Luciano

It has been an odd year for Marco Luciano. This is a reminder that development is never linear, but the Giants have had little appetite for allowing the former top prospect to continue his development at the major league level.

He entered spring training with an inside track at the starting shortstop gig. However, he struggled defensively in spring training. Those struggles have bled into the season and the Giants look to be considering a position change at this point as he is beginning to see time at second base.

The Giants seemingly opened up playing time for Luciano after sending Jorge Soler to the Atlanta Braves in a four-player deal. Unfortunately, the Giants seemingly pulled the plug on that experiment after just a couple of games. Luciano can still finish the season with some good experience under his belt.

The right-handed bat has registered a .247/.380/.382 line (99 wRC+) with 10 home runs and 39 RBI in 371 plate appearances with the Sacramento River Cats in 2024. These are not great numbers by any means, but the Giants will have exhausted two minor league option years by the end of this season. It is time for them to see what Luciano can do.