Yankees somehow sneak 5-time Top 100 prospect through waivers and keep intriguing bat

Will the New York Yankees finally be the team that unlocks Marco Luciano after his abbreviated tenure with the San Francisco Giants (and plenty of unfulfilled accolades)? Who knows! But they got one step closer on Tuesday when they did what nobody else could this offseason: prevent him from getting snapped up on the waiver wire.

The Yankees added Luciano to the fringes of their 40-man roster on Jan. 22, when the Orioles fumbled him off their infield cliff. Baltimore claimed him from the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier in the offseason, who captured the initial runoff when the Giants let him loose. The odds that Luciano ever fulfills his early promise are low, but we begged the Yankees to get him to spring training for an earnest shot at a first impression on a podcast episode that followed his acquisition.

Unsurprisingly, they ... did not listen, throwing him to the wolves five days after claiming him the first time so they could get their hands on ex-Mets top prospect Dom Hamel. They were hoping, just like the Giants, Pirates and Orioles before them, that other teams would ignore Luciano, allowing him to slide past all 30 clubs on the waiver wire and back into their minor league system. It didn't work for anyone else, but maybe ... maybe it would work for the New York Frickin' Yankees.

And it did! On Tuesday, the Yankees lost light-hitting outfielder Michael Siani to the Los Angeles Dodgers (the team they swiped him from in the first place, but kept an all-cleared Luciano in the fold.

Yankees keep prospect Marco Luciano, lose Michael Siani to Los Angeles Dodgers

Luciano, still 24 years old, may never be the dynamo he was purported to be when he peaked at No. 12 on Baseball America's pre-2021 top prospect list. That was his second of five consecutive years on the vaunted list. Unsurprisingly, it was the version right out of the pandemic and a year's worth of virtual scouting where Luciano ranked the highest. Instead of putting his loud tools together, he's mostly flopped - except against lefties. He hit .282 with a .986 OPS against them at Triple-A last season.

Now, he'll get to show off that skill in Scranton. He may never become a five-tool infielder with pop, but the scouting report doesn't always have to be 100% right for there to be value in his game. The Yankees will be the ones to prosper if he does start to put things together at the ripe old age of ... yeah, still young. Still 24. Good move.