Yankees swipe former Top 100 prospect off Orioles' waiver wire in sneaky infield move

How many prospects can make the top 60 of five consecutive Baseball America league-wide Top 100 Prospect lists and still not amount to anything? It can't be many! And the Yankees now get a chance to see for themselves whether Marco Luciano is among the unlucky few.

Luciano, somehow still just 24 years old, peaked at No. 12 on BA's list from prior to the 2021 season after debuting just before COVID shut the world down at No. 19. If we wanted to be rude, we'd say it's no surprise that he vaulted up the list after the one season that was canceled and provided a complete lack of data ... but we don't want to be rude.

His .930 OPS at Low-A San Jose for 70 games in 2021 remains his gold standard; since rising to the high minors, he's been a mid-.700s OPS middle infielder who's struggled in a pair of big-league cameos. He didn't even get an MLB shot in 2025, then found himself the victim of the Giants' roster churn this offseason.

Thus began his grande tour de MLB, with non-playing stops in Pittsburgh and Baltimore before the Yankees claimed him off waivers on Thursday.

Yankees add former Top 100 prospect Marco Luciano after Giants career, short time with Orioles and Pirates

Now, will the Yankees be the ones to unlock Luciano? Or is this destined to feel like Roansy Contreras' never-ending waivers journey, where we celebrate the Yankees for taking a chance on reuniting with his heater one second, only to turn around and say goodbye after a moment or two has passed (as the league tosses him from town to town)?

Luciano's MLB future looks dim, if not extinguished entirely, but given the experts' consensus assessment that he had massive upside (from 2020-2024), doesn't he deserve a longer look on the Yankees' roster than Braden Shewmake got? He was afforded a full season of Triple-A ball (underwhelming), and still holds a spot on the 40-man. The next time a DFA is necessary on the offensive side, the Yankees should clear Shewmake out of the mix and let Luciano acclimate to Scranton.

At the very least, the Yankees have added a direct replacement on the infield shuttle for Oswald Peraza, as well as another ex-top 100 guy to be confused by. At most? The Yankees have ... yeah, no, the "at least" is probably what we're going to end up mostly focusing on here, unfortunately. He probably won't make it to George M. Steinbrenner Field.