It’s been a long road for Marco Luciano.
The No. 2 overall prospect in the 2018 international class, Luciano was signed by the Giants out of the Dominican Republic for $2.6 million. San Francisco valued the 16-year-old for his 6-foot-3 frame, pop, and athleticism, projecting him as a middle-of-the-order bat with the potential to develop into a sturdy defender at a premium position. After Luciano slashed .302/.417/.564 across 47 games in his first action as a pro, the wider baseball world agreed. He
entered Baseball America’s prospect rankings at number 19 in 2020, marking a player with both high upside and — ostensibly — a projectible floor.
Still just 18 in 2020, it would be a few years before the uber-talent made his way to the bigs. He lost some steam as he went but was still a consensus top-50 prospect by the time he debuted with sky-high expectations in 2023.
That’s when the narrative flipped. Luciano hit just .217 with no home runs in 126 plate appearance between 2023-24, failing to translate his power and plate discipline at the MLB level. And he was done no favors by his glove, grading out well below average on defense while splitting time between shortstop and second base.
And so it was that he ended up on waivers after the 2025 season. He was claimed by the Pirates, putting in motion a month-plus of indignity that would have been unthinkable for the former top prospect just a couple of years prior. Pittsburgh cut him after a month to clear up a roster spot. The Orioles picked Luciano up, only to DFA him again a couple of weeks later.
That’s when the Yankees swooped in, adding him off waivers. They DFA’d him themselves a week later, but when none of the other 29 MLB teams had a 40-man spot for Luciano, he was sent down to Double-A Somerset to rebuild his swing. While there was a modicum of buzz around the move, largely due to his former prospect pedigree, Luciano’s signing was more of a move around the margins than a long-term play.
Then something surprising happened. In his first 28 games of the seasons, Luciano hit like a man reborn, batting .327 with 10 homers. It was the kind of dominance he hadn’t demonstrated since Rookie ball seven years earlier. He was quickly promoted to Triple-A where he’s slashed a still-excellent .280/.374/.470 the rest of the way. He’s also passed the eye test as a viable defender at second base after moving to the position full-time.
Is this a case of a Quadruple-A player having a couple of good months? Or is something more at play here? As Eli Ben-Porat over at Baseball America outlined in an excellent primer on Monday, there are some tangible changes that signal the latter. While Luciano never ceased to show prodigious power, he was being too passive at the plate, resulting in poor timing and a lot of swing and miss. By hunting fastballs and not being afraid to swing at borderline pitches, he’s making much more hard contact, leading to a more balanced offensive profile.
The results speak for themselves. Among the 119 second basemen who’ve come to the plate at least 350 times across all levels of the minors, Luciano’s 141 wRC+ leads the pack. In his article, Ben-Porat teases that Luciano could be the Yankees’ second baseman of the future. With Luciano still a couple of weeks from his 25th birthday and Jazz Chisholm Jr. a free agent after the season, it’s a distinct possibility he’ll get an opportunity next spring to earn a job.
But what about this year? Chisholm has been a massive disappointment at the plate but, barring an injury, it’s hard to see him getting displaced at this stage of the season. If the Yankees did need a next man up at the keystone, José Caballero, Max Schuemann, and Amed Rosario are already on the active roster while Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera are on the 40-man down at Triple-A. The fact that the Yankees would need to free up a 40-man spot for Luciano makes his promotion unlikely. Still, his is a name to tuck away in the back of your mind. He’s been the best-hitting second baseman in the Yankees’ system this year. Whether this season or next, it behooves the Yankees to give him a look at the big-league level.
