[Giants]

Luciano is 22.  

When Heliot Ramos was 22, here are his major league stats:

ABs: 20
Hits: 2
OPS: .382

Today, in his age 24 season, Ramos is an All-Star

While I am not suggesting Luciano will be an all-star in his age 24 season, I would suggest that it is far too early to give up on him.  At some point, the light will come on just as it did for Ramos.  Luciano has too much talent not to succeed.

That said, Luciano is not fielding well at either 2B or SS...his collective fielding percentage is 93.8%, 10 errors in 161 chances. He does have a discerning batting eye, 43 walks in 55 games, .365 OBP. And he hit major league pitching well in his brief cup of coffee up here. But I'm thinking 1B or corner outfield are his future, unless he really accelerates in the middle infield.

The Giants still see Luciano as the team’s future SS.

Per Zaidi, “…we’re not giving up on the shortstop role for him.  From what we track, his defensive metrics at shortstop have been pretty solid in the minor leagues over the last couple of years.  Over a big sample, he has done a nice job.  Look, it’s always going to be different when you come up here with the pressure and expectations and being able to do it on a night in, night out basis on a big stage.  That’ll be a hurdle for him, but we’re going to continue to get him reps there.”  

We shall see……..

He made four late-game errors in three games at shortstop. That's...hard to do.

In retrospect, perhaps the Giants put Luciano in a situation defensively that he wasn’t prepared to handle.  If so, that is on team management.  
 
Of course, it could be that Luciano will never be a solid defensive major league SS.  However, I think passing judgment based on a handful of games is rather premature.  Heck, in this era, very few players are fully formed big leaguers when they begin their major league career.

[Giants]

Luciano is 22.  

When Heliot Ramos was 22, here are his major league stats:

ABs: 20
Hits: 2
OPS: .382

Today, in his age 24 season, Ramos is an All-Star

While I am not suggesting Luciano will be an all-star in his age 24 season, I would suggest that it is far too early to give up on him.  At some point, the light will come on just as it did for Ramos.  Luciano has too much talent not to succeed.

That said, Luciano is not fielding well at either 2B or SS...his collective fielding percentage is 93.8%, 10 errors in 161 chances. He does have a discerning batting eye, 43 walks in 55 games, .365 OBP. And he hit major league pitching well in his brief cup of coffee up here. But I'm thinking 1B or corner outfield are his future, unless he really accelerates in the middle infield.

The Giants still see Luciano as the team’s future SS.

Per Zaidi, “…we’re not giving up on the shortstop role for him.  From what we track, his defensive metrics at shortstop have been pretty solid in the minor leagues over the last couple of years.  Over a big sample, he has done a nice job.  Look, it’s always going to be different when you come up here with the pressure and expectations and being able to do it on a night in, night out basis on a big stage.  That’ll be a hurdle for him, but we’re going to continue to get him reps there.”  

We shall see……..

He made four late-game errors in three games at shortstop. That's...hard to do.

In retrospect, perhaps the Giants put Luciano in a situation defensively that he wasn’t prepared to handle.  If so, that is on team management.  
 
Of course, it could be that Luciano will never be a solid defensive major league SS.  However, I think passing judgment based on a handful of games is rather premature.  Heck, in this era, very few players are fully formed big leaguers when they begin their major league career.