Notes: Luciano 'an absolute pro,' intrasquad

SAN FRANCISCO -- Marco Luciano’s favorite players growing up were Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, two former top prospects who reached the Majors as teenagers and enjoyed rapid ascents to superstardom.

It’s not hard to envision Luciano following a similar trajectory. The 18-year-old shortstop, who is ranked the Giants’ No. 2 prospect by MLB Pipeline, is the youngest member of the club’s player pool, but it hasn’t taken him long to make an impression with his precocity and impressive tools on the field.

During live batting practice at Oracle Park earlier this week, Luciano stepped into the box to face Rico Garcia, a 26-year-old right-hander who made two appearances for the Rockies last year. Luciano took Garcia’s first pitch, a 95 mph fastball up, seemingly to gauge the velocity and carry on the ball. Garcia followed with another 94 mph heater down the middle, which Luciano drove out to left field for a home run.

“I think one of the things that he's demonstrating is that when he steps in the batter's box against Major League pitching, he's not fazed at all,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “In fact, you see him talking to the catcher, taking instruction, and he's able to think his way through at-bats and plate appearances. He's showing a maturity that, quite frankly, none of us really expected, so that's a big plus. We knew he was a mature kid, but to be a teenager and to be in this environment with all the added intensity going on and protocols, he's just handled it like an absolute pro.”

Luciano, who signed for $2.6 million out of his native Dominican Republic in 2018, said he’s appreciated the opportunity to train alongside seasoned Major Leaguers this summer, especially following the cancellation of the Minor League season.

“The veterans on the team are always trying to help me,” Luciano said during a Zoom call with reporters on Saturday. “They tell me where to position myself on the field and things like that. I’ve already learned a lot in the short time I’ve been here.”

Luciano made his pro debut last summer by recording a 1.055 OPS with 10 home runs over 38 games in the Rookie-level Arizona League before earning a promotion to Class A Short-Season Salem-Keizer, where he was the youngest position player in the Northwest League. The Giants brought him to Summer Camp at Oracle Park to ensure that he has a competitive environment in which to push forward his development. Luciano is expected to spend the bulk of the summer at the Giants’ alternate training site, where he will have the opportunity to play intrasquad games and receive instruction from infield coordinator Jason Wood, hitting coordinator Dave Hansen and other members of the player development staff.

Luciano said one of his goals for this training camp is to work on slowing the game down and not rushing himself when he’s fielding balls. He’s taking a similar view to his potential path to the Majors, preferring to focus on the present rather than allow himself to look too far down the road.

“That’s out of my control,” Luciano said. “What is in my control is working hard and giving it my all. When the team decides that I’m ready for the Majors, I’ll be up here. But that’s out of my hands right now.”

Intrasquad recap

The Giants staged a 6 1/2-inning intrasquad game at Oracle Park on Saturday, splitting their players into Black (visitors) and Orange (home) squads. Each team had 10 hitters in their lineups, with the Black squad emerging with a 4-3 win.

The Orange squad jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after Pablo Sandoval crushed a two-run home run off Andrew Triggs, but the Black squad came back to tie it on Hunter Pence’s solo shot off Logan Webb in the top of the second and Brandon Crawford’s RBI single off Shaun Anderson in the third. Donovan Solano and Wilmer Flores doubled off Wandy Peralta to put the Orange squad ahead, 3-2, in the fourth, but Chadwick Tromp knotted the score for the second time on an RBI triple off Sam Coonrod in the fifth.

The teams entered the top of the seventh tied, 3-3, so the Giants had top prospect Joey Bart open the inning at second base to simulate the new extra-innings rules that will be implemented this season. Darin Ruf hit a chopper to the right side that was fielded by first baseman Flores, who threw to Sandoval at third in time for the forceout. Austin Slater followed with a single to put runners on the corners for Joe McCarthy, who lined a base hit off Tyler Rogers to lift the Black squad to a 4-3 walk-off win.

“Absolutely, I think it did have the same intensity,” Rogers said when asked about playing in an empty stadium. “Once you get between the lines and it’s you versus another guy, you don’t even really realize the fans are there anyways. Once they step in the batter’s box, it’s really the same to me.”