Marco José Luciano (born September 10, 2001) is a Dominican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

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(MLB). He signed with the Giants as an international

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in 2018, and made his MLB debut in 2023.

Early life

Marco José Luciano was born on September 10, 2001, in San Francisco de Macoris,

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

Professional career

Minor leagues

Luciano was ranked as one of the top international prospects in his class. He signed with the

in July 2018 as an international

out of the

for a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $2.6 million when he was 16 years old. He underwent hernia surgery the following month. He made his professional debut with the

Arizona League Giants The Arizona Complex League Giants are a professional baseball team competing as a Rookie-level affiliate of the San Francisco Giants in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Scottsdale Stadium in Sc ...

in 2019. Luciano led the league with 46 runs and batted .322/.438/.616 in 178 at bats, with 10 home runs (third in the league), 38 RBIs (4th), and 27 walks (7th). He ended the season as the youngest position player (age 17) in the

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseba ...

. He was named an ACL post-season All Star, a ''

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'' Rookie All Star, and an MiLB Organization All Star. Luciano did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the

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. Luciano started 2021 with the

San Jose Giants The San Jose Giants are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Located in San Jose, California, the Giants play their home games at Excite Ballpark. Games San Jose Giants g ...

(Low-A). In June, Luciano was selected to play in the

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League- ...

. In August, Luciano was promoted to the

Eugene Emeralds The Eugene Emeralds (nicknamed the Ems) are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Eugene, Oregon. The Emeralds are members of the Northwest League and the High-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Eugene plays ...

(High-A). In 2021, Luciano hit .258/.344/.471 in 453 plate appearances with 19 home runs and 71 RBIs. He was named a CAL post-season All Star, and an MiLB Organization All Star. He was selected to participate in the 2021

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for the

Scottsdale Scorpions The Scottsdale Scorpions are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Scottsdale, Arizona, at Scottsdale Stadium, which is also the spring training facility of the San Francisco G ...

, where he was the youngest player in the league. In 2022 he played for Giants Black and Eugene. Luciano hit .269/.350/.467 in 227 at bats, with 11 home runs and 36 RBIs. He missed half the season with a lower back injury. He was ranked # 1 in the Giants 2022 MLB Prospect Rankings. On November 15, 2022, the Giants added Luciano to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

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. Luciano was optioned to the Double-A

Richmond Flying Squirrels The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club, and plays at The Diamond. Th ...

to begin the 2023 season. In 56 games, he batted .228/.339/.451 with 11 home runs, 32 RBI, and 6 stolen bases. On July 18, 2023, Luciano was promoted to the Triple–A

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland ...

San Francisco Giants (2023–present)

After only 6 games in Sacramento, the Giants promoted Luciano to the major leagues for the first time. In 14 games during his rookie campaign, Luciano hit .231/.333/.308 with one stolen base. Luciano was optioned to Triple–A Sacramento to begin the 2024 season after Nick Ahmed won the starting shortstop job out of spring training. In 27 appearances for the Giants, he slashed .211/.259/.303 with three RBI. Luciano was again optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to begin the 2025 season.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luciano, Marco 2001 births Living people Arizona Complex League Giants players Arizona League Giants players Estrellas Orientales players Eugene Emeralds players Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic 21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen Major League Baseball shortstops Richmond Flying Squirrels players Sacramento River Cats players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players San Francisco Giants players San Jose Giants players Scottsdale Scorpions players Baseball players from San Francisco de Macorís