The waiver wire isn’t supposed to be a game of hot potato, but don’t tell that to Michael Siani. This kid has spent more time in the air than a Delta pilot lately. We’re talking about a guy who has bounced from St. Louis to Atlanta to Los Angeles to the Bronx and back to the Dodgers in a span of roughly ninety days.
It’s a dizzying cycle that says everything you need to know about the fringe of a Major League roster. Teams see a player they like, realize they have zero room for him, and shove him back into the cold.
The Infinite Loop of the 40-Man Fringe
Brian Cashman clearly had a vision for Siani that lasted about as long as a New York minute. The Yankees grabbed him in late January, likely hoping his speed and defensive metrics could provide some late-inning insurance.
Then the Dodgers, apparently regretting their initial decision to let him walk, snatched him right back this Tuesday. Siani is essentially living out of a suitcase while front offices play spreadsheet poker with his career.
The Marco Luciano Conundrum
While Siani is busy booking another cross-country flight, the real intrigue in the Bronx involves Marco Luciano. The Yankees managed to sneak him through waivers, outrighting the former top prospect to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
It’s a small victory for the scouting department. They get to keep a guy who was once the crown jewel of the Giants’ farm system without burning a precious 40-man spot. The pedigree is there, even if the recent production looks like a crime scene.
Luciano is only 24 years old, yet he already feels like a player at a career crossroads. He spent last year in Triple-A hacking away, eventually putting up 23 home runs in 125 games.
That raw power is the only reason he’s still getting looks from big-league clubs. You can’t teach the exit velocity he generates when he actually makes contact. The problem is that “actually making contact” part has become a rare occurrence.
A High-Stakes Swing and Miss
A .214 batting average in the Pacific Coast League is enough to make any hitting coach lose sleep. When you pair that with a 30.6 percent strikeout rate, you aren’t looking at a Major Leaguer; you’re looking at a project. The Yankees love a high-walk guy, and Luciano’s 15.3 percent walk rate is legitimately elite. But in the Bronx, if you can’t put the ball in play with runners on, the fans will let you hear it before you even get back to the dugout.
The Yankees are currently hunting for a right-handed bat that offers some defensive versatility. On paper, Luciano fits the bill perfectly as a guy who can float between the dirt and the grass. Reality is much harsher than a scouting report, though. He’s currently buried on the depth chart behind established veterans and more reliable utility options. To even sniff a call-up, he has to prove that his swing isn’t fundamentally broken against Triple-A breaking balls.
Scranton or Bust for the Former Phenom
Spring training is going to be the ultimate litmus test for whether Luciano has any gas left in the tank. He’s heading to camp as an underdog, a label he probably never expected to wear when he was a top-ten global prospect. The Yankees have nothing to lose by letting him marinate in the minors for a few months. If he finds that 2021 form, they look like geniuses for snagging him off the scrap heap.
If the strikeouts persist, Luciano will just be another name on a long list of “what ifs” that passed through the Yankee system. He has the frame and the bat speed to be a difference-maker in the middle of a lineup. The mental side of the game is where this battle will be won or lost in the dirt of Moosic. He needs to stop swinging for the fences every time he sees a glimmer of white and start professionalizing his approach. If he doesn’t, his stay in the organization will be just as forgettable as Michael Siani’s week-long tenure.
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