Tucupita Marcano tore up Triple-A to start the 2023 season.
The 23-year-old super utility player was hitting .422 with nine extra base knocks, leading to a 1.147 OPS. He had hits in 10 of his 11 games. Six of those 10 were multi-hit efforts. Three times this year, he had put together a three-hit game, including last Friday night. All of this, plus injuries in the majors, led to him getting promoted to Pittsburgh.
Marcano knows his success and promotion wasn’t a result of his actions during a few good games. The work toward his success began just after last season ended in November and December.
“The work that I put in during the off-season and the work that I put in during Spring Training is paying off,“ Marcano said prior to the promotion, through the translation of Ruben Gotay. “I’m trying to take it pitch by pitch and at-bat by at-bat. I’m trying to get to a good count and get a good pitch to do the best that I can. I just believe in what I did and the work I put in.”
Marcano’s primary motivation was to get his body in the right place to start off the 2023 campaign, which clearly was successful.
“I worked really hard on my body,“ Marcano said. “I took a lot of swings, but I really worked hard on everything. There was no particular focus. It is good when I step in the batters box, and I can see the fruits of that pay off.“
His competitiveness and effort is what caught the eye of his manager in Indianapolis, Miguel Perez.
“Marcano is a gamer, wherever you put him on the field, he’s going to play to win,” Perez said. “It’s great to see the results, but that’s who he’s going to be every time he plays.“
Along with batting in four different spots in the order and several situations for Indianapolis, Marcano also got work in the outfield. He took a significant amount of time working on his outfield defense this offseason. With this work, his confidence is rising.
“Every rep that I get, I feel more comfortable,” Marcano said. “I put in a lot of work in the outfield during the off-season, so I can see some of the work I did paying off as well.“
In six games with the Pirates over the last week, Marcano has gone 2-for-10 with a double, a triple, and two walks — giving him an .833 OPS in his first 12 plate appearances. He’s already started two games at second, and should have an opportunity to stay in the majors with all of the injuries to the big league club.
Trusting his off-season work and taking that pitch-by-pitch, at-bat by at-bat approach will help to keep him in Pittsburgh.
