Tucupita Marcano has taken an interesting path to losing his prospect status.
In his age 21 season, he made his MLB debut with the Padres, getting 50 plate appearances in 25 games. A year later, after being acquired by the Pirates in the Adam Frazier trade, he has been called upon multiple times by the Pirates — enough to surpass 130 at-bats.
Marcano turns 23 in a month. He’s very young to be losing prospect status, and is still pretty much a prospect without the label.
When a player loses a prospect label, we give an outlook on their future MLB career. The Book on Tucupita Marcano is largely unwritten, and this one reads more like a prospect report, for good reason.
JOHN DREKER
Marcano graduated from the prospect list at an age younger than most players get their first chance at Triple-A. He was two years younger than the average player in Double-A this season. He’s slightly younger than two players the Pirates drafted this year. That likely means that we are far from seeing a finished product at the big league level. From what I’ve seen during his minor league time this year, he has a chance to be a high OBP guy and not much else. That’s a nice player at second base at the bottom of a good lineup if he has a chance to be a starter down the line, but he has more of the feel of a utility guy. He could be very similar to the man he was traded for in Adam Frazier, as the speed, defense, versatility and contact skills are similar overall. However, to get to the high-end version of Frazier that we saw in Pittsburgh, Marcano will need to hit for more power than he is capable of now. As I said, he’s young enough that he could have plenty more upside and part of that upside could include filling out more and tapping into some power. Some added hard contact without sacrificing OBP numbers would give him a much better chance to start and stay at one position. Marcano might see some more minor league time before the season as over, mostly due to the smaller roster numbers in September, but that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for his future. He barely has a full season of AA/AAA experience at this point.
WILBUR MILLER
By the time last season ended, I wasn’t impressed with Marcano. After the Pirates acquired him, he put up a .604 OPS at Indianapolis, with good walk and K rates but no power at all. I should have put more weight on the fact that the Padres skipped all the way up from Low A (in 2019; he didn’t play in 2020) to the majors in 2021, based on a big spring. And he was still only 21.
This year he’s looked more like the guy the Pirates supposedly were acquiring. He’s had an .888 OPS in 31 games at Altoona and .933 in 14 at Indianapolis. He’s also held his own in Pittsburgh. No, a .651 OPS isn’t impressive on its face, but that’s good for an OPS+ of 82 (as of August 10), which actually makes him one of the Pirates’ better hitters. He’s the youngest hitter to appear for them this year, so he has a pretty good claim to having some upside.
Marcano has excellent bat-to-ball skills. In his minor league career he’s struck out in only 11% of his plate appearances, and he has more walks than strikeouts. The big question has always been whether he’ll hit for any power, as he’s very skinny. But he’s shown signs of being more than just a slap hitter. Even if he never hits more than a handful of long balls, he can drive the ball and should hit doubles and triples, with the occasional homer, as he’s shown the last two years. It also helps that, according to Statcast, he has top 15% sprint speed.
A defensive position is the other main issue. He’s probably not a shortstop long-term, but OAA and UZR both seem to like him at second. The Pirates have used him almost entirely in left and at second in the majors, and those positions are the ones he’s played the most in the minors for them. The Pirates’ infielder-in-the-outfield obviously has Marcano in its deadly embrace, but the fact is that it’s probably the best way for him to get playing time in the majors with the roster as it stands today. It’d be good to get him some time at short and third, not that he’s going to start at either position for the Pirates, but they will always need backups there.
ANTHONY MURPHY
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Marcano is his hustle. He’s a high-motor player that I believe is the most aggressive base-runner in the entire system. If he hits one into the outfield and the ball isn’t thrown in quick enough, he is always going to look to grab the extra-base.
The on-base aggressiveness isn’t something that’s going to show up in the statsheet, as he only has two professional stolen bases to date, but the hustle is there nonetheless.
I still wonder just how much power Marcano is going to hit for, and that’s always been the case for him. He’s solid, if not spectacular, defensively but has been limited to just second base and left field in the majors.
He could get an extended look the rest of the season, but seems like the ideal high-energy player off the bench as a long-term option.
TIM WILLIAMS
What has really stood out to me with Marcano is his ability to get on base. The Padres rushed him to the upper levels, and he responded with a .366 OBP in Triple-A. The Pirates sent him to Double-A this year, and he started off destroying the level, before getting a brief call to the majors. He returned to Double-A after his COVID replacement status was over, but the Pirates quickly found that Marcano didn’t need time in Altoona.
Marcano had a .303/.413/.475 line in 122 plate appearances in Double-A. In his time in Triple-A, he has a .362/.433/.500 line. He’s demonstrating outstanding contact abilities, and subtle power, while being able to play all over the field. Most of his time has been spent at second base or in left field, though he’s also played third, short, and right.
Let’s pretend the Padres never called Marcano up. Let’s do the same for the Pirates. With no MLB time, this is a 22-year-old who is putting up an on-base percentage above .400 at the top two levels of the minors, and can play two positions where the Pirates need long-term answers.
In his time in the majors, Marcano has a .214/.286/.300 line. He’s walking 8.3% of the time and striking out 23.6% of the time, with an .086 ISO. Clearly the on-base ability hasn’t translated over to the majors yet, nor has the contact nor the subtle power shown up. We really shouldn’t be judging the MLB results, because Marcano hasn’t really been given a real shot, despite exceeding prospect status. Going forward, his ability to fill one of the two starting needs for the Pirates makes him one of the most interesting guys to watch down the stretch. I could see an Adam Frazier ceiling, where he sticks in the majors initially as a super utility player, before quickly moving into a full-time starter role.
THIS WEEKEND ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
Williams: Bridging the Gap From A-Ball to Pittsburgh
Prospect Roundtable: The Book on Tucupita Marcano
Dariel Lopez Continues To Answer Each Challenge Given
