Marco Luciano spent two months of the offseason getting passed around like a roster problem. The Giants waived him after 2025. The Pirates claimed him on Dec. 5 and dumped him two weeks later to clear a 40-man spot. The Orioles picked him up Jan. 7 and designated him Jan. 15. The Yankees claimed him a week after that and DFA’d him five days later.
Pinstripe Alley called it a month-plus of indignity, which is generous. Then he hit .040 in spring training across 30 plate appearances and got shipped to Double-A Somerset to rebuild his swing.
That looked like the end of it. Instead he hit .327 with 10 homers in his first 28 games.
He was a left fielder a year ago
This is the part that makes the turnaround strange. Luciano spent all of 2025 at Triple-A Sacramento and played 107 of his 125 games in left field. The Giants had given up on him as an infielder. He hit .214 there with 23 home runs, fifth in the Pacific Coast League, and drew 85 walks, second in the league. The power was never the question.
He was the No. 2 prospect in the 2018 international class per both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, signed for $2.6 million out of the Dominican Republic. He held a top-100 spot from 2020 through 2024 and entered 2023 ranked 22nd by Pipeline and 36th by Baseball America.
The major league version never showed up. Across 41 games with San Francisco in 2023 and 2024 he hit .217 with a .590 OPS and never hit a home run. He split those games between shortstop and second base and did not grade well at either.
The Yankees moved him back to the dirt
Somerset put him at second base full time, and he has looked like he belongs there. The footwork is cleaner, the double-play turns are getting there, and he moves like someone who is comfortable rather than someone being hidden.
That matters more than the batting average. A 24-year-old who can hit and stand at second base is a roster piece. A 24-year-old who can hit and has to play left field is competing with the entire sport.
Where he fits
The Yankees claimed him in January as depth while Anthony Volpe worked back from shoulder surgery, which is about as low as an acquisition gets on a contender’s priority list. He did not crack their top 30 prospects entering the season.
He has since forced his way into a conversation nobody planned to have. Whether that ends with him playing second base in the Bronx is a separate question from whether he has salvaged his career, and the second one already looks answered.
