SF has a new top prospect
MLB.com now ranks Marco Luciano ahead of Bart and Ramos
The buzz around Giants shortstop prospect Marco Luciano continues to grow.
Despite Luciano’s early struggles at the plate this spring — he’s 1-for-12 with nine strikeouts— excitement surrounding the 19-year-old’s potential to be a future major league star remains widespread.
MLB.com released an updated list of the top 30 prospects in the Giants’ organization Thursday and ranked Luciano first, ahead of former first round draft picks Joey Bart (No. 2) and Heliot Ramos (No. 3).
After Bart ranked 14th and Luciano checked in at No. 35 on MLB.com’s top 100 prospects list last spring, Bart dropped to 23rd in the 2021 rankings while Luciano climbed all the way up to No. 16.
Ramos is the only other player in the Giants farm system who is a consensus top 100 prospect across the industry as MLB ranks
him as the No. 65 overall prospect. It’s possible Ramos will continue to climb rankings before making his major league debut, which could come as soon as this summer if he builds off of what’s already been an impressive spring.
Ramos has slugged three home runs in Cactus League games this week including two on Sunday against the Reds and another mammoth solo shot on Tuesday against the Brewers.
The Giants’ 2019 first round draft choice, Hunter Bishop, is the fourth-highest rated prospect in their farm system and ranks as the No. 71 overall prospect on MLB.com’s top-100 list.
Left-handed pitcher Seth Corry, a third round draft choice in 2017, is the Giants’ top-ranked pitching prospect as he’s the fifth overall prospect in the farm system and No. 99 among the top 100.
MLB.com says Luciano has the best hit tool and power tool in the Giants’ farm system and his 60-grade arm is tied with a few others including Bart and Ramos for the best in the system. The evaluators at MLB also say Corry has the best curveball and one of the best changeups in the system, which should give him the chance to become a future mainstay in the Giants’ rotation.
Thoughts on the Giants’ top 30 list:
• Despite the fact Giants fans have endured four consecutive losing seasons, fans may have to wait a little longer than they would like for many of the organization’s top prospects to reach the big leagues. It’s unlikely any of the top 10 prospects aside from Bart and Ramos will debut at Oracle Park in 2021 and many of those players such as catcher Patrick Bailey, outfielder Luis Matos and third baseman Luis Toribio likely won’t be ready until at least 2023.
• Corry is the highestrated pitcher in the farm system, but another lefthanded prospect drafted out of high school, De La Salle alum Kyle Harrison, has the potential to become a fast-riser with a strong debut minor league season. Harrison, who was the Giants’ third round pick in 2020, is really highly-regarded by Giants evaluators and they think he can eventually become a force atop the team’s rotation.
• Former Giants general manager Bobby Evans received a ton of criticism from fans for his failure to develop homegrown talent (the Giants haven’t drafted an All-Star since Joe Panik in 2011), but Evans delivered a really strong 2018 international signing class. Outside of Luciano, Matos (No. 7) and Jairo Pomares (No. 14) both rank among the Giants’ top 15 prospects while earlier international signees including Toribio (No. 10) and Alexander Canario (No. 9) are also highly-regarded talents.
• It’s interesting to see one of the Giants’ 2020 compensatory selections, Nick Swiney (No. 14) rank ahead of recent secondround picks Casey Schmitt (No. 16) and Logan Wyatt (No. 17), but MLB.com’s evaluators appear really high on Swiney’s curveball and changeup. The Giants as an organization have emphasized changeups, so pitchers who develop that pitch well should have a chance to rise through the system quickly.
ANGELS 5, GIANTS 4 (7) >> If Johnny Cueto looked like the All-Star-caliber starter he was at the beginning of his Giants tenure in his first Cactus League outing on Saturday, the righthander opened Thursday’s game against the Angels at the opposite end of the spectrum.
During a 5-4, seven-inning loss to the Angels, Cueto gave up four first-inning hits including a tworun home run to future Hall of Fame outfielder Mike Trout in an inning that was reminiscent of his roughest games from the 2020 season.
Initial signs of concern ultimately faded by the end of Cueto’s three-inning, 58-pitch start against an Angels club that had all of its best hitters in the lineup. The veteran righthander actually exited his outing with a 3-2 lead and wrapped up his start Thursday by striking out Trout on a changeup that floated across the inner half of the plate and inducing a long flyout from third baseman Anthony Rendon after manager Gabe Kapler paid him a visit.
With Cueto on the mound on Thursday and fellow right-hander Kevin Gausman slated to make his Cactus League debut on Friday against the Rockies, the Giants appear to be lining up their longest-tenured pitcher to make an Opening Day start against the Mariners in Seattle.