San Francisco’s front office is playing chess, not checkers, and this year’s board involves moving LaMonte Wade Jr. and Marco Luciano into the outfield more often.
The logic behind it isn’t simple, nor is it purely strategic; it’s a mix of necessity, opportunity, and a looming presence that’s impossible to ignore—Bryce Eldridge, the towering 6’7” first-base prospect who has been rocketing through the minor leagues at a pace that demands attention.
Let’s start with Wade, who has been practically glued to first base for the last two seasons.
He’s played 1,631 innings there since 2023, more than twice as much as Wilmer Flores, the backup who has covered 801 innings.
Between the two of them, they’ve handled nearly 85% of the team’s innings at first base.
That level of consistency is hard to break up, but the Giants aren’t looking at comfort—they’re looking at evolution.
Once a legitimate outfield option, Wade barely touched grass the last couple of years, managing just 154 outfield innings since 2022.
But rewind a little further to 2021 and 2022, when Brandon Belt was still around, and Wade was more than capable in the outfield, logging 824 innings.
Now, he’s spent the offseason focusing on conditioning and running because the Giants need him back out there.
The move’s main focus is lineup flexibility.
Jung Hoo Lee is coming off shoulder surgery, so his workload must be carefully managed.
Heliot Ramos showed flashes of brilliance last season but is lopsided at the plate, dominating left-handed pitching with a ridiculous .370/.439/.750 line while struggling against righties at just .240/.286/.387.
Wade, a known righty-killer, batted .253/.374/.377 against them last year and has a career line of .251/.359/.431 in those matchups.
That makes him an easy plug-in when Ramos needs a break or when matchups demand it.
The second, and arguably more pressing, reason for Wade’s transition is Eldridge.
The 2023 first-round pick, taken 16th overall, is moving fast—faster than most expected.
Last season, he climbed through four minor league levels, spending most of his time at High-A, where he absolutely dominated with a .335/.442/.618 slash line in 215 plate appearances.
Across all levels, he logged 519 plate appearances, smashing 23 home runs while slashing .289/.372/.513.
His 11.4% walk rate is promising, and while his 25.3% strikeout rate is a bit high, it’s hardly concerning given his offensive production.
Most notably, he’s already ranked as the 12th-best prospect in all of baseball despite having just 17 games above A-ball under his belt.
The Giants might not need him in 2025, but he’s coming—fast.
And when he arrives, first base needs to be open.
That means Wade needs to be comfortable in the outfield again, sooner rather than later.
Now, Luciano’s move is less of a choice and more of a necessity.
When the Giants handed Willy Adames a seven-year, $182 million deal this offseason, that ended the conversation about Luciano at shortstop.
Add in Matt Chapman’s presence at third and Tyler Fitzgerald’s rise at second base, and suddenly, there’s nowhere left for Luciano to play.
Perhaps the best solution is to shift him to the outfield and see if he can stick.
It’s a last-ditch effort to salvage his potential because, so far, Luciano hasn’t proven much at the major league level.
Across 126 plate appearances, he’s hit just .217/.286/.304—numbers that don’t inspire confidence.
His numbers in Triple-A were slightly better—.250/.380/.380—but he still struck out at a concerning 26.8% rate.
To his credit, that’s an improvement from the 31.3% strikeout rate he posted the previous year, but it’s still concerning.
He admitted that he felt completely lost at the plate last season and spent the winter breaking down his swing, trying to rebuild the approach that once made him one of baseball’s most hyped shortstop prospects.
What complicates things even further is that Luciano is entering his final minor league option year.
That means the Giants can’t keep stashing him in the minors much longer.
He either sticks at the major league level, or they have to make a tough decision about his future.
There’s an urgency here, even if the Giants won’t say it outright.
If Luciano struggles at the plate again and doesn’t show he can handle the outfield, his time in San Francisco might not last much longer.
Eldridge is knocking on the door, and they need to clear space for him at first base.
Adames, Chapman, and Fitzgerald have locked down the infield.
Jung Hoo Lee is returning from injury.
Ramos is still finding his footing against right-handed pitching.
Every move here has a ripple effect, and the Giants aren’t making them lightly.
Spring training is going to tell us a lot about how this all shakes out.
Can Wade still handle the outfield after two years, mostly at first base?
Will Luciano’s bat show signs of life?
Are the Giants just buying time before Eldridge forces his way onto the roster?
These are foundational changes, and how they play out will shape the Giants’ future in a massive way.
