SF Giants seemingly backpedaling on plan with power-hitting prospect

When the SF Giants shipped Jorge Soler to the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline, Marco Luciano was considered one of the beneficiaries of the move. Farhan Zaidi even confirmed that in an interview after the trade deadline. Less than two weeks later, the Giants seem to be backpedaling on this approach.

SF Giants seemingly backpedaling on plan with power-hitting prospect

Luciano's bat had always been his carry tool. The Giants hoped that he could stick at shortstop and be a passable defender, but they no longer seem convinced with that concept. The 22-year-old infielder had begun seeing time at second base with the Sacramento River Cats.

If they were convinced he could stick at shortstop, they would not be moving him around the field. That said, given that he is on the 40-man roster, there is some level of need to figure out how he might fit onto the team.

Opening up playing time at DH seemed to be the way to get him playing time against major league pitching. While the Giants did move Soler, they added Mark Canha and called up Jerar Encarnación from Triple-A. Both players have seen time at DH in recent days.

For a very brief moment, the Giants appeared committed to the idea of giving Luciano a long look. He appeared in two straight games following the Soler move while collecting two hits, including a double, in six at-bats.

Since the start of August, the right-handed bat has appeared in only three games. He was not listed in Sunday's lineup and has not played in a game since August 5.

What is the point of having him on the roster if he is not going to play? I suppose one benefit is that he gets to work out with the major league coaching staff, but how is he going to apply any of what he is working on if he does not see any game action.

Unfortunately, this feels like another misstep in a pattern of poor developmental choices in recent years. Some recent examples include calling up Joey Bart too quickly in 2020, doing the same with Casey Schmitt last year, not finding any playing time for Heliot Ramos in 2023, and now this.

The Giants have been fortunate that Ramos has made the impact he has made this season. However, Schmitt continues to be shuttled from San Francisco to Sacramento when the need arises. It was clear that he was called up too soon in 2023 as he had not forced his way onto the roster in the way you would hope.

On the unfavorable side, the Giants are seeing Bart's breakout season from afar with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The good thing is that Patrick Bailey is the catcher of the futute, but a power-hitting catcher like Bart could have been a huge trade asset. Or, at least, they could have tried to play him at first base when he was not catching. Instead, they called him up too early, starting his option clock and now only have a 2023 eighth-round pick to show for it.

There have been missteps along the way. The Giants need to pick a direction with Luciano as he has already burned two of his three option years.

In fairness, the Giants are winning with Canha and Encarnación in the lineup. They have been made positive first impressions with the club, but in the aggregate, neither player is as good as Soler. So, the Giants made a tradeoff by making the overall lineup worse after moving Soler with the hopes of opening up playing time for Luciano.

However, they have shown no appetite to go with the bumps that come with committing to a young player like Luciano. If the Giants do not reach the playoffs, then it feels like they are missing out on an opportunity to give Luciano playing time in favor of a pair of players who likely do not have a long-term role with the club.