The future is foggy for young SF Giants infield prospect after latest demotion

The SF Giants demoted infielder Marco Luciano to Triple-A Sacramento on Wednesday and called up outfield prospect Grant McCray. Luciano's demotion makes his future with the Giants seem foggier than ever as his role becomes even less defined.

This year has not been a good one for Luciano. All offseason, the 22-year-old was seen as the presumptive favorite to take over starting duties at shortstop in 2024. He struggled in Spring Training which led the team to sign Nick Ahmed who earned the starting job over Luciano who began the season in Triple-A.

Eventually, Luciano got his shot in the majors due to Ahmed getting injured. He swung the bat well, but his defense at shortstop was unimaginably atrocious as he committed 5 errors in 9 games, many of them coming in high-stakes moments. Luciano was sent down to Triple-A once again where he did pretty well at the plate. Well enough that that the Giants planned to make him their DH after trading away Jorge Soler to the Braves.

That strategy lasted a matter of weeks as the Giants sent Luciano down to Triple-A and called up McCray to boost their outfield defense.

Marco Luciano is in a state of limbo after latest demotion

Where does Luciano go from here? I am genuinely asking you, dear reader, because you probably have as good of a guess as the front office does. It is hard not to think that this season could have done a lot to harm the confidence of Luciano. The defensive blunders combined with the reluctance to play him the last week or so really just reinforce the narrative that the Giants do not have a whole lot of trust in him.

Perhaps he is still just too green. He is just 22 years old after all. We have seen this season how Heliot Ramos has blossomed at the big-league level in his age 24 season when the last two years there was concern that he may be a bust. Maybe Luciano just needs a little more time to develop at the minor league level before he is ready to contribute in the big leagues.

Or, to drink the pessimist's poison, Luciano may just be a bust. Maybe he just cannot be a reliable big league infielder and he certainly is not good enough of a hitter to be a permanent DH for the team. Maybe the Giants should have cut their losses at the trade deadline and tried to shop him while he still had some value.

I am more in line with the "he needs more time" argument especially after seeing Ramos become an All-Star this year. The Giants should have patience with Luciano and should probably give him a lot of time at second base in the minors which should be an easier position for him to get a grip on.

With Luciano, the future looks very foggy. Let's just hope his weird and inconsistent 2024 does not ruin his confidence to the point where he can never be a solid contributor at the big-league level.