SF Giants minor league bat has a career day at the plate with Sacramento

While the SF Giants secured a series win against the A's over the weekend, there were plenty of highlights on the farm as well. Marco Luciano had a career day at the plate for the Sacramento River Cats, hitting two home runs with seven RBI in a 15-13 win over the Reno Aces.

SF Giants minor league bat has a career day at the plate with Sacramento

It was a bit of an odd travel schedule for the River Cats. They began the week at home, but had to travel to Reno in the second half of the week, so that the A's could face off against the Giants in Sacramento. Normally, minor league teams play in a six-game series all in one location.

The ball was jumping off the bat on Sunday at Greater Nevada Field. The River Cats hit four home runs, while the Aces hit two. Luciano was the star of the game. The right-handed hitter lined a double to center field to score Daniel Johnson for his first hit of the game.

In the next at-bat, Luciano hit a fly ball to right field that cleared the fence for his first home run of the day. He followed that up with a grand slam to center field against veteran reliever Anthony Gose to give the River Cats a 12-8 edge in the 11th inning.

Two of Luciano's batted balls recorded an exit velocity of over 100 MPH, with the grand slam having an exit velocity of 107.0 MPH. That is a tough number for many hitters to register, but it is a number that he hits with regularity.

The 23-year-old finished the day with three extra-base hits and seven RBI. He now has 16 home runs on the year, which leads the Giants organization.

Overall, the 2025 campaign has been a mixed bag for the former top prospect. He is slashing .229/.344/.441 (104 wRC+) with 16 home runs, 46 RBI, and 54 runs in 355 plate appearances. This includes a 14.6 percent walk rate, 30.4 percent strikeout rate, and .212 ISO.

Luciano has done a nice job at limiting his chase rate to 21.8 percent, but he is arguably too passive at the plate. This has led to a high walk rate. The Giants would likely prefer to see him be a bit more aggressive.

The right-handed bat has recorded a 91.5-MPH average exit velocity, while maxing out at 113.7 MPH in 2025. Exit velocity and bat speed have rarely been an issue for him, and it highlights his power potential.

Since reaching Triple-A in 2023, finding a consistent and effective bat path has been problematic. While Luciano has no problem hitting the ball hard, he has struggled to get any type of lift with his swing. This has led to high ground ball rates. It is one of the reasons why there remains a gap between his raw power and game power.

Luciano has made some modest improvements in those areas this season. His average launch angle sits at 12.2 degrees, up from 5.6 degrees with Sacramento last year. Luciano's ground ball rate is at 43.7 percent, down from 49.8 percent last season.

These are modest improvements that have led to better power output this season. Perhaps, the next step is finding a way to pull the ball in the air more consistently, but he does have power to all fields.