SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — This spring was supposed to be the coronation of Marco Luciano. Instead, it has turned into the introduction of Nick Ahmed.
Six days from now in San Diego, somebody besides Brandon Crawford will take the field as the San Francisco Giants’ Opening Day shortstop for the first time in 13 years, and all indications are it won’t be the 22-year-old top prospect deemed long ago to be his natural successor.
Luciano has heated up of late and Bob Melvin said this week that the competition was “ongoing,” but the manager has hinted at a preference for the proven veteran over the rookie’s tantalizing potential.
“It’s a little harder on Luci because he got off to such a slow start, meaning he wasn’t playing for a while, which put him up against it,” Melvin said Thursday. “His at-bats maybe weren’t great to begin with; now they’re much better. And he’s playing really solidly in the field too. He’s playing much better right now.”
Later that night, in a 7-6 win over the Brewers, Luciano laced a pair of hits to the opposite field, including a line drive to right field for his first home run. After starting Cactus League play with one hit and 12 strikeouts in his first 25 plate appearances, he has five hits in his past 12 at-bats, improving his spring batting line to .231/.333/.308.
Since being brought into camp as a non-roster invitee, Ahmed has made the more compelling case. His defense still looks to be Gold Glove-caliber or close to it. At the plate, he has been a revelation, with a 1.276 spring OPS after an offseason of mechanical changes and now two years removed from shoulder surgery.
The decision, both players said, is out of their control.
“I’ve come in and showed that I’m still a really good player who can play the game at a high level,” Ahmed said. “Offensively, defensively, on the base paths.”
“Whatever the decision the administration is going to make, that’s their decision to make,” Luciano said in Spanish through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I started slow at the beginning, but I made some adjustments and overall I feel really good.”
Rolling out a lineup Friday for Logan Webb’s final Cactus League start that resembled the one that should take the field behind him on Opening Day, Melvin had Ahmed batting ninth and playing shortstop. Luciano was sent to Mesa for a prospect-laden road half of the split-squad doubleheader against the Cubs.
The Giants brought Ahmed into camp on Feb. 26 and days later added Matt Chapman, bringing six Gold Gloves to the left side of their infield in the span of a week. Since Chapman debuted March 9, it has been Ahmed who started at shortstop alongside him in all nine games.
“It’s gonna be fun to play alongside him all season,” Ahmed said, confidently. “It’s no secret that our team gets a lot of ground balls. We’re ready to go out there and pick it for them and let them just throw their sinkers and changeups and splitters and be there to back them up.”
Giants pitchers didn’t just get a lot of grounders last season; they got the most of any pitching staff in the majors. But they failed to capitalize on their pitching staff’s greatest strength by fielding a defense behind them that committed 113 errors, the most in the majors.
“Defense is going to be the priority,” Melvin said last week.
Since an errant throw in his first game, Luciano has looked more comfortable in the field, and third base coach Matt Williams said, “I’ve seen him improve on the skills he needs to play shortstop. The angles he takes, the footwork he needs to have, throwing mechanics.” But he still lacks the credentials of Ahmed, who won Gold Gloves in 2018 and ’19 before the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and then season-ending surgery on his shoulder in 2021.
Ahmed, 34, said his arm strength wasn’t the same in his first season back from surgery, and he also had to knock the rust off offensively, not unlike Michael Conforto’s experience returning from a similar procedure last season. He hit 16 and 19 home runs during his Gold Glove seasons but combined for only 15 in the four seasons since.
The Giants wanted to see if Ahmed was back to full strength, and Melvin said, “so far, so good.”
“I feel like I’m in a really good spot,” Ahmed said. “I made a lot of adjustments in the offseason. Came into camp knowing I didn’t have the season I wanted last year and even the couple years prior with the shoulder injury. Just rebuilt my swing mechanics and rebuilt my approach.”
The last time Ahmed won a Gold Glove, Luciano had yet to play an inning of the sport in the U.S. He is still only 22 years old but has been on fans’ radars since signing for a $2.6 million bonus in 2018, the same international class that included Luis Matos. Kyle Haines, the Giants’ farm director, bemoaned the spotlight put on teenagers who need time to develop.
“It feels like we’ve got prospect fatigue because we talked about him for three years before he even played in the United States,” Haines said.
Before receiving his call-up last season, Luciano logged only 18 games with Triple-A Sacramento. He played 88 games across all levels after having lost the majority of the previous season to a nagging back injury, which also prevented him from playing winter ball.
“The thing he is lacking is pure game experience,” Williams said. “He’s had injuries that have kind of derailed his seasons. For him, what I think he needs, he needs 500 ABs. He needs to just play every day.”
This year, Luciano reported to Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League, where he played 11 games but experienced the same struggles at the plate he displayed early in spring training, batting .205 with 13 strikeouts in 48 plate appearances.
“It’s nothing new for me. In every different level that I’ve played, I have started slow and then I catch up,” Luciano said. “As a player you get into bad habits. You have to make sure you take a step back and go back to what you’re supposed to do.”
Between Ahmed and Pablo Sandoval, Luciano has had veterans to consult in the batting cage and during infield work. Sandoval has been especially helpful in offering pointers at the plate, Luciano said, while the three-time World Series champion added, “Luciano is a hard worker, man. He’s a positive guy. I know he’s not frustrated. When he gets it all together, he’s going to be good.”
Brought in to compete with Luciano, Ahmed said, “I don’t want to interject too much” and that “there hasn’t been a ton of dialogue.” The junior shortstop is more of a watch-and-see type than ask-and-learn, anyway.
“When (Ahmed) is working out, fielding ground balls, I watch what he does,” Luciano said. “I know he’s really good. I know he’s won Gold Gloves. That’s basically what I do. I want to see what he does and see what I can take from it, what I can learn and what makes me good.”
Barring something unforeseen, that learning process will likely continue this year at Triple-A Sacramento, at least to start.
“The only thing I can control is what I do on the field,” Luciano said. “The only thing I can control is playing my best.”
