The Yankees announced that they have added infielder/outfielder Marco Luciano to their 40-man roster. Luciano would have otherwise become a minor league free agent, so this allows the Yankees to keep him in the system for now.
Luciano, now 25, was once a big prospect in the Giants’ system. He didn’t click in the majors with that club and exhausted his final option season in 2025. That led to him riding the transaction carousel last offseason. He went to the Pirates, Orioles and Yankees via waiver claims. The Yankees were the ones to finally pass him through waivers unclaimed in February, allowing them to keep Luciano in the minors as non-roster depth.
He didn’t earn his way back to the majors during the 2026 season but had a good year on the farm. He got into 116 games, 28 at the Double-A level and 88 at Triple-A. He stepped to the plate 493 times in total. His 24.7% strikeout rate was a bit on the high side but he drew walks at a 13% clip and hit 27 home runs. He slashed .293/.387/.545 for a 143 wRC+. He got a bit of help from a .348 batting average on balls in play but it would have been a good season even with more neutral luck.
Defensively, he came up as a shortstop but the Giants become pessimistic about his prospects there and moved him to left field. The Yankees put him back on the dirt but mostly at second base. He played just one game at short and only seven in left field.
The Yankees have some uncertainty in their infield picture. It seems like George Lombard Jr. will probably get a chance to take over the shortstop job, though he is only 21 years old and was fairly error prone in his first 42 big league games. Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is now a free agent and did not receive a qualifying offer. Third baseman Ryan McMahon is still signed but could be jettisoned after his poor season. Ben Rice and Luis García Jr. are both in the first base mix while Giancarlo Stanton could be in the designated hitter spot when he’s healthy.
Anthony Volpe and José Caballero are on the roster. They could be candidates to take the second base job with the departure of Chisholm. If the club moves on from McMahon, then they could try for third. They also might be needed at short if Lombard struggles or gets hurt. There’s been some talk of García moving to second base but he was bad there when he was with the Nationals.
There are many moving pieces and it’s possible the picture changes when the Yankees make their offseason moves. For now, Luciano has a big league roster spot again. If he still has one when spring training rolls around, then he could battle for a spot on the Opening Day roster.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
