The Yankees have claimed outfielder Marco Luciano off waivers from the Orioles, according to announcements from both clubs. Baltimore designated him for assignment a week ago. The Yankees technically have a 40-man spot open for this claim, but their agreement to re-sign Cody Bellinger is not yet official. This moves fills up the 40-man, so a corresponding move will now be required for Bellinger.
It’s possible that corresponding move could involve Luciano himself. The once-vaunted prospect is pinballing around the league this offseason, going from the Giants, to the Pirates, to the Orioles and now the Yankees.
Luciano, 24, was originally signed by the Giants as a teenager out of the Dominican Republic. He spent five seasons residing on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list, topping out as their No. 12 prospect following the 2020 season. Luciano was productive throughout his run in the lower minors but has yet to hit beyond Double-A.
Through 1017 plate appearances in Triple-A, Luciano is a .227/.351/.401 hitter with a glaring 29.6% strikeout rate. Those tepid rate stats come despite an overwhelmingly hitter-friendly environment in the Pacific Coast League — and specifically in West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park (currently the temporary home of the A’s.)
At one point, Luciano was considered the Giants’ shortstop of the future. His status as Brandon Crawford‘s heir wilted as he stumbled in the upper minors, however, and in 2024 the Giants began moving him to other positions. Their signing of Willy Adames on a seven-year deal sealed the fact that if Luciano was going to be a key piece in San Francisco, it’d need to be at another position. The Giants tried him in the outfield as well, but without much luck.
In addition to his Triple-A struggles, Luciano has seen 126 plate appearances in the majors and posted a .217/.286/.304 slash. He’s fanned in 35.7% of his trips to the batter’s box in the majors. There are still plenty of loud tools in his skill set, but Luciano’s jarring swing-and-miss tendencies have proven too prominent to surmount thus far in his career. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll need to either break camp with the Yankees or be removed from their 40-man roster — most likely via yet another DFA. If it comes to that, the Yankees can try to slip him through waivers in hopes of keeping him Scranton as a depth option in the event that he clears.
as far as i know luciano is an infielder only
…but is he lucky?
Still only 24, consensus top 50 prospect for five years running. BP had him top 10. A reminder: prospects flop! Perhaps not too late for him to figure it out.
Lucky he got claimed.
Good exit velocity, but pretty much going backwards on all the other aspects. Might still have a decent arm, but not a great defender at any position. Youth is still on his side. Hopefully he figures it out.
Maybe he can dh for Giancarlo when he decides to get hurt?
He strikes out a lot too so, ya.
5 errors in 60 IP at SS in his MLB cup of coffee. He didn’t fare much better at 2B. He’ll have to reinvent himself as a LF.
He has had little success above High A. He did post some good offensive numbers in RK/A ball but his glove has always been average and he couldnt hit in AA/AAA. It is hard to believe that he was a consensus top 50 prospect for one season let alone five seasons as suggested above.
thanks b-ref showed only infield
Baseball reference actually shows it. Along with playing LF in the DOWL.right now for the Toros.
Get better at reading.
seems a little harsh but okay
You have to be pretty abrupt if you want to succeed as a captain of sport fish.
Great answer.
He is excellent at strike outs
I am much much better,
He played mostly outfield last year. This is just a quick waiver claim, and the Yankees are gonna put him back on waivers on the announced the Bellinger signing in the hopes that he passes through waivers and they could stash him in AAA.
Maybe. They have others they can jettison. The fact they picked him up knowing they need a spot for Bellinger indicates they’ll likely keep him.
Have you looked at his strikeout rate?
Shewmake probably off 40.
Yes. There’s a few there on the fringe. They need to find room on the 40-man, not the 26-man MLB roster. I don’t expect much from him, but they could roster him in AAA as depth unless he’s completely out of options.
Out of options is exactly why he’s been bouncing around the last month.
Hey clark, s***ter’s full.
Real tomato ketchup, eddie?
ok, what, and what?
Obviously you’re not a golfer
nope
Good depth claim by Cashman
for Cashman, yeah, for anybody else…
Super duper surprised Preller passed…
He will be DFA’d shortly for Bellinger. This is simply to throw a flyer in just case he passes through waivers, most claims are.
he is very bad at infield, check out the dodgers series where he started, he is a dh as best
This is a fantastic claim. Once again The Yankees are showing every team in the AL how to build a championship team.
I can’t tell if this is satire or not
you can’t?
Does that mean my 100+ L WSox with their $67m payroll passed before the Yankees? If so feckin idiots!
I feel sorry for this guy he’s been on waiver wire the last couple of months.
Why?
Why not? There is no reason not to.
Is this the guy that threw out a runner from Left Field at progressive field on the fly back to first? I think he might have been on the A’s at the time.
Nope. Never been an Athletic.
You’re probably thinking about Ramon Luriano who was on the As and had a roids assisted cannon arm at the time.
Hopefully Yankees is the landing spot Luciano needs & he gets opportunity
That’s gotta be who I WWE thinking of. Thanks
Giants->Pirates->Orioles->Yankees->?
Since the Giants waived him I don’t think his name has stuck to a jersey for the next team for 5 minutes..
LOL. Fortunately he won’t have that problem with the Yankees.
A warm body to fill out the AAA roster
hopefully, this is a good break for the kid. For his sake, let’s hope the Yankee player development team can unlock all the talent that is there.
They worked wonders with Dominguez.
ppl writing off a 22 yr old is insane
Not writing him off yet but at 22 he should be at least competent in the outfield. I know he started playing baseball later than most and he’s still young but I’ve never seen a worse outfielder before. As far as his bat goes, he shows promise on the left side but he is nowhere major league ready on the right. He should give up switch hitting and focus on batting lefty.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure
he’ll probably be more like finding a 5 dollar bil on the street
They should nickname him Lucky!
Now that Bellinger is back any chance the Yankees trade Grisham? Probably wishful thinking
I wouldn’t be eager to trade him. Ranked 7 in outfield HR (34) last season. Defense took a hit but dramatic increase in his bat and I’ll take that over a diminished defense anytime. He may be hitting his stride or maybe it was a fluke season for him ,idk, but why not see what he can do before that scenario comes into play,if it even does.
Giants missed out on a lot of trades because this kid was deemed “untouchable” in their eyes.
I just don’t think this kid is ever going to make it. I think the one time top prospect shine makes people think he might revert to that when it seems most likely he was a top prospect in rookie and A ball but when they advanced him through the minors to face better pitching closer to MLB caliber than what he was facing he turned into just another guy trying to make it to the big leagues.
Another monster signing by Cashman!