SAN FRANCISCO — Outside of being two of the most recognizable players in Major League Baseball, 28-year-old Mike Trout and 27-year-old Bryce Harper have something else in common.
They’re the players Giants prospect Marco Luciano idolized as a child.
Nearly every teenage baseball player grew up trying to model their game after the sport’s biggest stars. Luciano is one of the select few with the jaw-dropping potential to successfully follow in Trout and Harper’s footsteps.
At 18 years old, Luciano is the youngest player in San Francisco Giants camp this summer and already one of the most physically impressive.
“I think that’s what’s amazing, right?” Giants farm director Kyle Haines said. “If you watch him and watch everyone else, he doesn’t look out of place. To think that he probably would have been a senior in high school this year, it’s hard to fathom.”
Luciano was one of former general manager Bobby Evans’ parting gifts to the franchise. The club signed the highly touted prospect at the beginning of the 2018 international signing period to a $2.6 million bonus that made him one of the richest players in his class.
In two years with the organization, Luciano has given the Giants every indication the return on the investment will be enormous. After hitting .322 with a 1.055 OPS as a 17-year-old in the Arizona Rookie League last year, the Giants promoted Luciano to short-season Salem Keizer.
It’s possible the shortstop would have emerged as one of the youngest players in the California League this year with High-A San Jose, but the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancelation of the minor league baseball season.
Hundreds of Giants prospects are left to train on their own this summer, but when the team formed its 60-man player pool, Luciano was hand-selected to participate. Instead of spending 2020 playing against minor leaguers or training back at home, he’s practicing on the left side of the Oracle Park infield alongside veterans such as Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria.
“Obviously in the first week I’ve been here I learned a lot,” Luciano said through Spanish-language translator Erwin Higueros. “Some of the veterans do come over here and help me, they tell me where to position myself on the field, and those are the things that I’m absorbing right now.”
It’s too soon to know whether Luciano will stick at shortstop or need to move to another position, but it’s not too early for Giants fans to dream about his potential to slide into the middle of the order as an impact bat.
During a live batting practice this week, Luciano turned heads when he ripped a 94-mile per hour fastball from right-hander Rico Garcia into the left field bleachers at Oracle Park.
“Luciano with his maturity, his all-around game, when he steps in the batter’s box against major league pitching, he’s not fazed at all,” manager Gabe Kapler said.
The Giants posted the video of Luciano’s home run to the team’s social media channels, offering fans the chance to get acquainted with a player considered by many who evaluate prospects as the best in the organization.
Marco Luciano pic.twitter.com/hhMBjw5NxL
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) July 8, 2020
Outside of Venezuela native Pablo Sandoval, who originally signed with the Giants as a teenager in 2002, the franchise has struggled in recent history to develop international prospects. Over the last decade, San Francisco has also had trouble with drafting meaningful contributors, which has led to a talent deficiency and three consecutive losing seasons.
Given all the hyped Giants prospects who have failed to meet expectations over the last several years, it’s natural for fans to express skepticism over an 18-year-old talent.
Any number of issues can arise in Luciano’s development process, but there’s also so much that can go right. After watching young sensations such as Ronald Acuña, Jr., Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis, Jr. immediately emerge as three of the league’s brightest young stars in recent years, it’s possible Luciano can have the same type of impact with the Giants.
At the very least, the idea of Luciano looking like a natural fit alongside teammates who are nearly twice his age should provide an indication to fans that his progress is worth following.
“A guy that would have been a senior in high school is out there with some of the best in the world and doesn’t look out of place so that’s very exciting,” Haines said. “He’s a very easy player to get excited about, he’s very deserving of people recognizing how hard he’s worked and his talent level.”
