Marco Luciano isn't just the Giants' top prospect. He also is inching closer and closer to becoming the top prospect in all of baseball.
MLB Pipeline released its latest Top 100 prospect rankings on Wednesday, and Luciano has moved all the way up to No. 5 overall. That makes him the second-best shortstop prospect behind just Bobby Witt Jr., who was the No. 2 overall pick in 2019. Luciano, 19, also is the youngest player among the top-eight prospects.
Just how eye-opening is Luciano's rise to No. 5 overall? Let's look at history real quick. Luciano is the highest-ranked Giants prospect by a major outlet since Madison Bumgarner was ranked No. 3 overall by Baseball Prospectus before the 2009 season.
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SIGN UP HERE Buster Posey was ranked as the No. 7 prospect by Baseball America before the 2010 season, and Tim Lincecum was No. 6 by Baseball Prospectus ahead of the 2007 season.
Luciano is batting .260 with 19 home runs and an .868 OPS between two levels this season. He hit .278 with 18 homers and a .930 OPS in 70 games with the Low-A San Jose Giants before being promoted to the High-A Eugene Emeralds. He now is the youngest player in the league and is struggling so far.
Through 12 games in High-A, Luciano is hitting a lowly .163 with one homer and a .528 OPS. He has 24 strikeouts and has walked only three times. His skillset and superstar potential are far too high to worry about right now, though.
The young shortstop wasn't alone on the Top 100. Three other Giants prospects made the list in MLB Pipeline's newest rankings. Behind Luciano are Joey Bart (16), Luis Matos (84) and Heliot Ramos (87). The big news there is Matos has moved ahead of Ramos.
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Matos, 19, has been one of the Giants' best prospects this season. There's a real argument that he and Jairo Pomares have been the organization's best two hitting prospects down on the farm. In 83 games with San Jose this season, Matos is batting .323 with 12 homers and an .875 OPS. He also has stolen 18 bases.
Pomares recently was promoted to Eugene. There's a chance Matos, a center fielder, could join he and Luciano.
Here's a snapshot of the Giants' new top-10 prospects, per MLB Pipeline.
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Will Bednar, the Giants' top pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, comes in at No. 7 overall. Behind Bednar, two other draft picks from this year made the Giants' top-30 list. Those two are pitchers Matt Mikulski (No. 10) and Eric Silva (No. 22).
The Giants are in first place in the big leagues, and continue to be on the rise in the minors. It all starts with Luciano as his star shines brighter while fans wait patiently in San Francisco.