San Francisco Giants Place Superstar Prospect on IL, Make Additional Moves

The San Francisco Giants bad injury luck continues as they place their young shortstop on the IL.

May 19, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants infielder Marco Luciano (37) shakes hands with a teammate after scoring a run against the Colorado Rockies during the fifth inning at Oracle Park. / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants, who have been bitten by the injury bug all season, have yet another player hitting the injured list.

The team placed their rookie shortstop, Marco Luciano, on the injured list on Friday with a hamstring strain. He left Wednesday's game against the Philadelphia Phillies early with a tight hamstring, and after the off day, it was bad enough to warrant an IL stint.

Luciano had played 10 games in 2024 so far, and had appeared to make some strides at the plate from 2023.

In 27 plate appearances, he walked three times and only struck out five times, something he has struggled with in the minors and during his big league stint last season.

Overall, he had put up a .986 OPS and had three extra base hits.

However, just before the injury, he had begun to lose some playing time.

The 22-year-old was struggling defensively at shortstop, putting up a -3 outs above average and -2 run value. He had begun splitting time with Brett Wisely, who has been a better defender and has been hitting well himself.

Luciano was talked about as the shortstop of the future all offseason, so the Giants will hope he comes back healthy and can take that step forward defensively to earn his spot as the full-time shortstop.

In the mean time, they called up Casey Schmitt to take his place.

Schmitt has already seen some Major League action this season, and is probably the better defender than Luciano at this point. However, he doesn't have the bat that Luciano does and was not good at the plate in his first stint, posting a -7 OPS+. He also struggled in 2023, but he seems to be just a defensive replacement at this point.

When Nick Ahmed is healthy, he will likely take over shortstop duties until the team is comfortable with Luciano at short. He is set to begin his rehab assignment on Saturday.

There has not been a reported timetable for Luciano's injury. LaMonte Wade recently went on the IL with a hamstring injury and will be out for about a month, so that's probably the time frame to look at.

In other roster moves, Ryan McKenna and Jackson Reetz both cleared waivers and were outrighted to Triple-A, and Drew Pomeranz elected for free agency after clearing waivers.

The injury woes continue for the Giants amid their hot streak, but they will be getting healthy soon as Michael Conforto and Austin Slater are set to start their rehab assignments soon.

For now, they'll be without their hopeful shortstop of the future.