Luciano ready for outfield challenge: 'I just have to be me'

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Marco Luciano admits that he never really felt like himself last year.

Long viewed as one of the Giants’ top prospects, Luciano was expected to succeed Brandon Crawford as the club’s everyday shortstop last spring, but he never managed to grab hold of the job amid concerns about his defense. He continued to scuffle when he was forced to learn second base on the fly and also didn’t show enough with the bat to stick in the Majors.

The end of the season brought another challenge, as the Giants told Luciano that they planned to begin transitioning him from the infield to the outfield. The up-and-down year led to a winter of soul-searching for the 23-year-old Luciano, who tried to mentally reset after returning home to his native Dominican Republic.

“I just worked on trying to find myself,” Luciano said in Spanish. “On being me, the person that I am. I didn’t try to do a lot of different things. Last year, I just felt lost in the batter’s box. I worked on finding myself and feeling like I normally do when I’m hitting. I don’t have to do too much. I just have to be me.”

Luciano didn’t feel he was in the right headspace to play winter ball, so he focused on spending time with his family and working with his longtime trainer, Edwin Castillo, to improve his physique and start getting comfortable in the outfield.

Does he feel like himself now?

“Much better,” Luciano replied in English.

Luciano arrived at Scottsdale Stadium on Friday with his infield gloves still in tow, but the Giants expect most of his reps to come in the corner outfield this spring. Luciano will have a chance to compete with fellow youngsters like Luis Matos, Grant McCray and Wade Meckler for the fourth outfield spot, though Matos is viewed as the front-runner for the role after winning Rookie of the Year honors in the Venezuelan Winter League.

Luciano has yet to log an official appearance in the outfield in his professional career, but he said he played the position when he was younger and is looking forward to getting more experience there and learning from the other outfielders in camp.

“At first, I felt a little uncomfortable,” Luciano said. “But over time, as I started taking fly balls every day, I started to feel more comfortable. I feel a lot better now. … I’ve played the position before. It really wasn’t that bad. I just accepted it and tried to give my best and take advantage of the opportunity.”

The Giants hope the position change will ultimately take some pressure off Luciano and help him unlock his bat, which made him the prize of the organization’s international signing class in 2018. Luciano has long been known for his electric right-handed power, but that production has yet to show up in the big leagues, as he’s batted only .217 with a .590 OPS and zero home runs in 41 games with the Giants over the last two years.

“I think I was doing a lot of things differently than I normally would when I was hitting,” Luciano said. “I didn’t feel comfortable. But I worked on that. I knew I just wasn’t myself. I didn’t feel right. I was struggling with that for the entire year. But now I feel much better.”

Luciano showed he can smoke balls to the opposite field last year, but he’ll have to find a way to tap into his pull power to finally develop into an impact bat for the Giants.

“He tracks the ball. He hits the ball hard to the opposite way,” manager Bob Melvin said. “There’s probably some more pull in his game when he’s playing every day, but he never really had the opportunity with us. I don’t know that we tweak his swing or anything like that. Obviously, we’d like to see a little bit more power. But when you’re not playing very often, it’s tough to do that at the big leagues.”