Marco Luciano’s time in San Francisco is over.
The Giants announced on Friday afternoon that Luciano has been claimed off outright waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates, ending the former top prospect’s tenure with the orange and black.
San Francisco’s 40-man roster is now at 39.
Luciano’s departure from the organization does not come as a surprise considering the 24-year-old was out of minor-league options and did not have an apparent fit on next year’s Opening Day roster. The acquisition of outfielder Joey Wiemer, in particular, signaled that the Giants may have been willing to move on from Luciano.
The Giants converted Luciano from an infielder to an outfielder last offseason but he didn’t play a single game with the Giants in 2025, hitting .214/.335/.413 with 23 home runs for Triple-A Sacramento. By wRC+, Luciano was four percent worse than a league average hitter in the Pacific Coast League.
Luciano signed with the Giants in July 2018 as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic for $2.6 million and quickly became one of the organization’s top prospects.
He made his major-league debut in 2023, hitting .231 over 14 games, and entered spring training in ’24 as the favorite to be the team’s Opening Day shortstop and be the heir apparent to Brandon Crawford.
Those plans never materialized. The Giants signed Nick Ahmed midway through spring training, and Ahmed ended up becoming the team’s Opening Day shortstop while Luciano began the season with Triple-A Sacramento.
Luciano spent most of the 2024 season with the River Cats and only played 27 games with the Giants, struggling on both sides of the ball. At the plate, Luciano hit .211 with a .562 OPS over 81 plate appearances. With the glove, Luciano was worth -3 defensive runs saved.
