Keep an Eye on Marco Luciano

by Domenic Lanza

February 17, 2026

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NOTE: The following comes from EJ Fagan's substack page and is shared with permission. This was published a few days ago so the stats don't include the last few games.

Please check out EJ's substack page for more great articles.

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Marco Luciano was a top prospect in baseball for half a decade.

Yes, a half decade – literally. From 2020 through 2024, Luciano appeared on the top-hundred lists of Baseball America (peaking at 12), MLB.com (16), and Baseball Prospectus (8). Luciano was a shortstop – or, I suppose, a “shortstop,” – with prodigious power, elite bat speed, and a strong approach at the plate. He has, unfortunately, been a flop as of that 2024 season, having failed to launch offensively in cups of coffee in 2023 and 2024 (and striking out in bunches everywhere), and proving with gusto that he is not a shortstop (or a second baseman). The Giants moved him to left field last year, several years after even the most optimistic prospect writers proclaimed he was not a shortstop, and the results were less than ideal … but not awful.

That is all preface, though. Unnecessary? Maybe! But given that Luciano is entering his age-24 season and isn’t that far removed from some serious buzz, I think it bears mentioning the path he took here. Here, being a series of DFAs this off-season, a minor-league deal with the Yankees, and a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

So, why am I keeping my eye on him? Part of it is certainly the lede. I’m fascinated by post-hype prospects. Much much of it is this, though:

Luciano absolutely destroys baseballs when he makes contact. That isn’t an exaggeration: he’s in the upper-percentiles of all manner of quality of contact, and that may be selling him short. He has a great idea of the strike zone, too, as evidenced by his chase rates. The caveat, of course, are the strikeout, whiff, and in-zone whiff rates. Luciano can tell the difference between a ball and a strike, and knows when not to swing. That’s good! But he clearly has holes in his swing, and that’s not so good.

Here’s the thing, though: I am not looking at Luciano to fulfill the prophecy of a hitting savant playing up the middle. Rather, I am looking at him as the short-side of a corner outfield platoon. And that is where things start to come into view. Consider his numbers against LHP over the last three minor-league seasons:

• 2023 – 96 PA, .263/.385/.475, 16.7 BB%, 29.2 K%

• 2024 – 134 PA, .277/.396/.518, 15.7 BB%, 24.6 K%

• 2025 – 129 PA, .282/.403/.583, 17.8 BB%, 26.4 K%

  
  

Sure, those numbers are exclusively in the upper minors – not the majors. Even so, Luciano has an OPS well over .900 against southpaws over the last three seasons, and there’s clearly a ton of thunder in his bat. A short-side platoon player with limited defensive utility is not the most valuable player on the open market. However, that sort of a player making the league-minimum will play.

And, to me, that Luciano has even a skosh of upside makes him at least mildly more interesting than most of those types.