The Pirates are designating outfielder Marco Luciano and infielder Tsung-Che Cheng for assignment, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Pittsburgh needed to open two spots on the 40-man roster after this morning’s three-team trade that netted Brandon Lowe, Mason Montgomery and Jake Mangum.
Luciano, 24, was a waiver claim from the Giants a couple weeks ago. It was a no-risk flier on a former top prospect who has yet to show much at the big league level. Luciano once ranked among the sport’s top 15 minor league talents at Baseball America. He was then a teenage shortstop with massive raw power upside in a 6’1″ frame. His bat has stalled against higher level pitching and he has moved to left field after struggling with errors on the dirt.
San Francisco gave Luciano limited looks in 2023 and ’24. He hit .217/.286/.304 while striking out 45 times in 126 trips to the plate. The Giants kept him in Triple-A for the entire 2025 season. Luciano connected on 23 home runs while walking more than 15% of the time, but he struck out at a near-31% rate. He whiffed on more than 35% of his swings against Triple-A pitching. While Luciano hits the ball hard when he makes contact, the swing-and-miss and limited defensive profile have dropped his stock. He’s also out of minor league options, so he’ll need to stick on an MLB roster or continue bouncing around via DFA limbo.
Cheng is also a 24-year-old who had some prospect attention not too long ago. He was never as well regarded as Luciano was early in his career, yet he ranked among Pittsburgh’s top 10 prospects as recently as 2024. A lefty-hitting infielder, he appeared in his first three big league contests in April. He went 0-7 with three strikeouts and was caught stealing in his only attempt. He spent the rest of the season at Triple-A Indianapolis, where he managed a .207/.305/.267 line with one home run in 406 plate appearances.
The Taiwanese-born Cheng is a good athlete and a versatile defender, but he has been a below-average hitter since reaching the Double-A level in 2023. He has one option year remaining. Pittsburgh has five days to trade or waive both players.
Didn’t they just sign Luciano?
Yeah but he’s a classic 40th man in the roster type who they can keep trying to push through waivers.
DFA claim, yeah. Back on the DFA train! Go get him Preller, it’d be a serious kick to have him blow up big down here!
No, let him fly back to the Giants. That would be hilarious!
Claimed vs. signed.. so it was a no risk no $ move.
Suwinski lives another day
Hey, what’s up with that? Will this be the year? I mean the year he finally proves he’s not worth a roster spot.
That wasn’t last year?
Not a chance
how?
Surely he is next in line for DFA?
Really hate Luciano didn’t get a chance to prove himself in Spring Training with Pirates. Hopefully another team will give Luciano an opportunity
Prime example of how Zaidi failed Luciano by not developing his game. Zaidi never could determine what was best position for Luciano
You think his position uncertainty is why his bat never developed?
1 Tool player.
Not much room in MLB for that.
Can’t just hit it hard, have to hit it often.
No other defensive skills above average.
Overhyped from day one. This should be a lesson for SFG about young prospects, and dealing them when they have value.
oldgfan, I’ve got to disagree greatly with that take. Scouting reports praised his bat speed, and raw power, as well as his arm strength. I don’t think the problem was his physicality, But his ability to handle the big stage mentally.
That doesn’t explain his struggles last year in AAA
It still could. It’s possible that his confidence took a hit when he preformed so badly at the ML level.
I’m not saying that’s definitely his problem, just my theory, but it would explain why a guy that has the tools he does, did not look like anything close to an MLB regular.
You could be right. I feel that power was his only above average tool. He was never really consistent with the bat, streaky at best. Mental side and the back issues could have affected his development. I guess the arm might have been another raw tool, but never really over impressed me.
I will revise my take to 1.5 tools.
Still not enough to stick at the major league level. His example is why I think we should not hesitate to deal the teen age high prospects we have right now.
I’ll stick with him being a 4 tool guy lacking only the hit tool. In fact, one of his scouting reports suggested that he risked sacrificing his tool for his power.. And I can’t believe that the Giants were so inept that they would have viewed a 1.5 tool player as the heir-apparent to Brandon Crawford.
Good points. Maybe at 17-18 he projected to develop into that guy.
For all the reasons mentioned it just didn’t happen. One thing I also always think about is how the money affects these guys when they are so young.
The Giants still saw him as taking over the SS position when Luciano was 21- 22. After Crawford’s final season in SF they signed Nick Ahmed, supposedly as a bridge to Luciano.
They did. You’re right, they did feel sold on his ability right up until last year or two. Did you hear about the team buying a theater ?
There’s a link to the article in the bottom of the comment section of the Houser signing story. Not great..
A theater? Really? No I haven’t. I’ll check it out.
The theatre purchase is an investment in the community. It’s a drop in the bucket.
If theatre patrons want to start supporting their local sports team because of this, isn’t that a good thing?
Regardless, not a big issue.
We can complain about needing one more starting pitcher or a great hitting 2b. Let’s leave the theatre purchase out.
I would agree, but the timing is all wrong. Really hope the trade avenues open up, cuz not looking good for FA spending.
If the Giants’ scouts over-hyped him, so did just about every other scout and publication. He was a multi-tool player who was mishandled and struggled. He’s def worthy of a 40-man slot with some MLB team, or at least a Spring invite.
Of course, if the Dodger$ sign him his skills will magically reappear.
Luciano got bit by the injury bug. Once he hurt his back, he began to stall with inconsistent playing time. I feel he still has a lot of upside the more he plays.
Yeah, but scouting reports also made reference of his questionable hit tool. Even when he had a .815 OPS between A-Ball and High-A, he was still striking out nearly 27% of the time. I don’t think it was so much of a problem as his mental ability to handle the game, but just his overall ability in general. He was always seen as a high-risk prospect who could be a middle of the order bat, if he could make enough contact and cut down some on the K’s. That’s a pretty high-risk profile.
Pirates will give him a chance if he doesn’t get claimed.
Redwolves… your bias is showing again.
Farhan was PBO. PBOs don’t determine what position is best for a player. The coaches do. Not to mention, Luciano was a bad defender to begin with, so perhaps he shouldn’t have played himself out of a position.
Plus, if it was just an issue of position, why would Buster DFA him, since if it were that simple, that’s a very solvable problem?
Cheng was put on the roster at least a year ago and has never even hit in the minors.
He evidently is a good fielder,but has no potential for being a ML hitter.
Luciano is one of those guys that has the tools, but IMO not the mental aspect for an MLB regular. Not saying he’s dumb, in fact he was described as having a high baseball IQ, but he just always seemed a bit overwhelmed without the ability to relax and just play the game.
His scouting report said lightning quick bat, plus plus power, fringy speed with good range, and arm strength good for the left side. Although there was some disagreement on whether he’d stick at SS, but that’s true for a lot of guys that had decent careers. No wonder the Giants liked, and continued to hold on to him. It’s a shame to see that potential, and not see it fulfilled.
He hasn’t played many games at the big league level. Years ago rye dog was going on about his home run power, at single a. Can he field, can he steal a base, can he put the ball in play. My last year in ball was when I was a sophomore in high school. I hit 260. Had a gold glove, but no power. Could steal, could bunt, could squeeze, could safety squeeze, I would get one hit a game, and one walk a game. You play ball until the door closes. What a grind, being a pro athlete. It was my calling, and then I graduated and moved on. Entertainers are not to be taken seriously. They all into witchcraft.
Had us until that last sentence bucko. To a point I agree but not every single baseball player is some behind the scenes wacko evil person
Luci is gonna get added and dropped by more teams trying to sneak him through waivers. It’s a grey area of not good enough for the 40 but intriguing enough for an add/drop.
Hence forth, we shall call this behavior getting Luci’ed. There’s some splaining to do.
This screams Lewin Diaz 2.0. Considering the lack of depth it was worth waiting till spring on him.
Luciano not lucky.
😂
Wasn’t putting in the off-season work that the Giants wanted to see. So Buster cut him…
Now this…
Never understood why Luciano was ranked so high as a prospect. I never saw the potential.
He hit very well in the low levels of the minor leagues, a lot of athleticism, high ceiling because of his ability to play a middle infield position and be a potential middle of the order power threat.
I never thought he showed much speed and the offense fell off once he had to face real pitching. I always expected him to maybe end up as a util or defensive 2B at most, but I remember everyone being so high on him.