{"id":110345,"date":"2025-12-05T18:49:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T23:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=110345"},"modified":"2025-12-05T18:49:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T23:49:17","slug":"pirates-claim-former-giants-ranked-prospect-marco-luciano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/12\/05\/pirates-claim-former-giants-ranked-prospect-marco-luciano\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Claim Former Giants Ranked Prospect Off Waivers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have claimed former middle infield prospect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/luciama01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marco Luciano<\/a> off waivers from the San Francisco Giants. The news was reported on the Pirates\u2019 Transactions page. Luciano, 24, was immediately added to the Pirates\u2019 40-man roster. Meanwhile, the Pirates waived outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/roberwi02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Will Robertson<\/a>, who was promptly snatched up by the Baltimore Orioles.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_95777\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-95777\" style=\"width: 882px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-95777\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/02\/USATSI_24234667-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"882\" height=\"588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/02\/USATSI_24234667-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/02\/USATSI_24234667-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/02\/USATSI_24234667-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/02\/USATSI_24234667-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/02\/USATSI_24234667-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/02\/USATSI_24234667-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/02\/USATSI_24234667-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 882px) 100vw, 882px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-95777\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sep 14, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants infielder Marco Luciano (37) stands on the field during batting practice before a game between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Pirates Claim Former Prospect Marco Luciano<\/h2>\n<p>Luciano, no relation to the late former umpire Ron Luciano or opera tenor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pavarottiofficial.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luciano Pavarotti<\/a>, was signed as a free agent by the Giants in 2018 when he was 17 years old. Once a ranked prospect, he fell off the various prospect lists last season. He had been ranked as high as No. 8 by Baseball Prospectus in 2021, the same year he appeared in the Futures Game, going 0-for-1 with a walk for the National League. Luciano has seen action at second base, shortstop, and left field in the minor leagues.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Pirates have claimed infielder Marco Luciano off waivers.<\/p>\n<p>Luciano, 24, was a former top prospect with the Giants and signed for a $2.6 million bonus as an international free agent in 2018. Did not appear in the Majors this year but hit 23 home runs w\/ a .749 OPS in AAA.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Alex Stumpf (@AlexJStumpf) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlexJStumpf\/status\/1997048738129342815?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The right-handed-batting Luciano has hit .246\/.335\/.455, 88 HR, and 297 RBI across all levels in six minor league seasons. This past season, he hit .214\/.335\/.413, 23 HR, and 66 RBI at Triple-A Sacramento. However, that came with 170 strikeouts in 555 plate appearances. In light of the fact that batting stats are inflated in the Pacific Coast League, where Sacramento competes, it wasn\u2019t an impressive performance. The Giants gave him a shot under the bright lights in 2023 and 2024. Luciano responded by hitting .217\/.286\/.304 in 41 games.<\/p>\n<p>Luciano is out of minor league options, and thus the Pirates must keep him on the major league roster or risk losing him to a waiver claim. Even so, this is a good low-risk move by the Pirates, though it\u2019s likely to be met by derision from their weary fan base. However, they\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/12\/04\/pirates-stocked-middle-infield-prospects\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">short on middle infield organizational depth<\/a> after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/04\/sources-pirates-place-former-prospects-peguero-bae-waivers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">waiving<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pegueli01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Liover Peguero<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/baeji01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-12-05_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ji Hwan Bae<\/a> last month. If Luciano reaches the potential his former pedigree once suggested, he\u2019ll be a significant upgrade over those individuals.<\/p>\n<h3>Robertson, We Hardly Knew Ye<\/h3>\n<p>The Pirates had claimed Robertson off waivers from the Chicago White Sox last October. Turning 28 next month, the left-handed power-hitting outfielder is \u201cold\u201d for a prospect. Last season at Triple-A, he hit .289\/.387\/.571, 20 HR, and 60 RBI. For the Orioles, this is a similar low-risk gamble. Robertson had a taste of the major leagues last year with the Chisox and Toronto Blue Jays, going 9-for-70 in 27 games. The Pirates\u2019 40-man roster wasn\u2019t full before Luciano was added. Thus, there was no reason to waive Robertson, unless Pirates general manager Ben Cherington has something else up his sleeve. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have claimed former middle infield prospect Marco Luciano off waivers from the San Francisco Giants. The news was reported on the Pirates\u2019 Transactions page. Luciano, 24, was immediately added to the Pirates\u2019 40-man roster. Meanwhile, the Pirates waived outfielder Will Robertson, who was promptly snatched up by the Baltimore Orioles. Pirates Claim [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":74870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071,35],"tags":[6221,3329,4744],"class_list":["post-110345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","category-news","tag-ji-hwan-bae","tag-liover-peguero","tag-marco-luciano"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110345"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110359,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110345\/revisions\/110359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}