SAN FRANCISCO – In the end, the New York Giants squad may have landed in the right place. But once again, the team has a bad image.
Two weeks after the New York Giants traded Jorge Soler to the Atlanta Braves and announced Marco Luciano would be the designated hitter, the 22-year-old has returned to the minor leagues. Luciano had just 21 strikeouts in seven games before being optioned on Wednesday when center fielder Grant McCray was called up for the first time from Division III team Sacramento.
Once again, the Giants are changing course. For now, McCray will improve his outside defense while Michael Conforto, Jarrar Encarnacion and others will get the designated hitter hits that Luciano got in the second inning. Asked about Luciano’s short leash, manager Bob Melvin noted that Encarnacion swings well and that Mark Canha can also absorb hits.
“Things can change quickly, and we keep trying to put our best lineup on the field and get the best combination on a given day,” Melvin said. “At that moment, it would have been easy to imagine more hits for Luciano, but that ended quickly.”
When Soler was traded, President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi said the staff wanted to find “opportunities for our young players,” especially Luciano. The promising player was the focus, but even that day there were signs that more changes could be coming.
Zaidi tried to improve the defensive center at the deadline, and when asked on the “Giants Talk” podcast about the young players who could soon join Luciano, he was quick to mention Encarnacion and Macri. Instead, McRae replaced Luciano, adding balance to the roster but once again leaving one of the organization’s most promising players in doubt about his future.
Luciano has made just six appearances since being called up on trade deadline day, going 4-for-21 with a double and nine strikeouts. After being out of the starting lineup for a week, he returned on Monday against Chris Sale, but his most famous moment from that outing is one he’d like to forget.
Luciano stopped running in a straight line to third base and was dropped, and while that wasn’t the reason he was sent down, it didn’t please the crew either, who saw a young player who still needed a lot of development in his feel of the game before he was ready to contribute at the big league level.
Luciano will now return to his everyday role in Major League Soccer, where he will again play shortstop and second base. The New York Giants have already decided that shortstop is not his future in the major leagues, and they feel that he is not far advanced in his career at second base at this time.
Even though Encarnacion and Canha were getting concrete hits, there seemed to be a hole at second base. Casey Schmidt (1 for 27) and Brett Wiseley (3 for 21) have struggled to hit since the deadline, but Luciano hasn’t seen any time at second base.
“Basically, we didn’t want to do that to him,” Melvin Help said defensively.
Melvin should have more options with this starting lineup, and on Wednesday McRae was in center, Heliot Ramos in left and Conforto was the designated hitter. Under Zaidi, he is the best fullback in New York Giants history, and they hope McCray can bring some speed to a team that has lost three straight games by one goal and has shown an inability to play small ball when needed.
Ramos was an incredible revelation on the field, but he wasn’t a good fit in the center field position, where McRae will now have a chance. Melvin said Ramos may also have some easier days as a designated hitter, but he will mostly go with veterans.
Despite their struggles, the New York Giants are still close to securing their third National League championship berth. But they are desperate to win, and Luciano signed on just days after he thought he was finally getting a bigger chance to get going.
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