SF Giants sound off on ‘unacceptable’ interaction between rookies

Sep 9, 2024, 8:53 AM

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 30: Marco Luciano #37 of the San Francisco Giants scores at Oracle...

(Photo by Suzanna Mitchell/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images)

Lead Editor & Kings Beat Writer

Tyler Fitzgerald and Marco Luciano are still solidifying themselves as Major League Baseball players, and the San Francisco Giants rookie tandem experienced an essential lesson over the weekend.

During Sunday’s 7-6 win over the San Diego Padres, Fitzgerald and Luciano had a miscommunication on an infield pop-up that resulted in an error and two runs coming across the board.

Fitzgerald, the shortstop, floated over towards the grass behind second base on a two-out pop-up that was off the bat of Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar. Luciano, who has been logging time at second base after struggling at shortstop earlier this season, was camped under the ball and calling for it before Fitzgerald’s glove broke up the play.

The right fielder, Luis Matos, secured the ball immediately, but the damage had been done as San Diego trimmed a 7-2 deficit to 7-4. At the end of the inning, Fitzgerald and Luciano were seen having an animated discussion in the dugout before Giants third base coach Matt Williams separated the two players.

“It’s bad communication,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of the interaction between the two rookies. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it was. It was bad communication. And it’s unacceptable. It’s just bad, bad baseball. We got to clean it up. Our defense has to get better.”

Marco Luciano and Tyler Fitzgerald exchanged words in the dugout after colliding on an infield fly that resulted in an error and two runs scoring pic.twitter.com/TSqPZR5JFd

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 8, 2024

What?? pic.twitter.com/2RYPXwQPPf

— Wade Meckler Supporter (@MecklerFan) September 8, 2024

Fitzgerald agreed with Melvin, as the 26-year-old relayed to the media he felt it was his fault that the mishap unfolded.

“I’ll start off. It wasn’t my ball,” Fitzgerald said of the play. “It’s communicating. It goes back to high school and college and everything I’ve been taught in this game. Just communicating. If anything, you want to be on the loud side of things. We just don’t have that connection up the middle to where we’re communicating on the same page.

“But I’m not blaming it on him. I’m trying to get across the point that we have to be loud. If I don’t hear anything, I’m going to run over there and try to make a play. Again, it wasn’t my ball. It’s my mistake at the end of the day. Hopefully, going forward, we’ll just scream as loud as we possibly can.”

To Fitzgerald’s point, the middle-infield partnership with Luciano is still in its infancy.

As the regular season winds down and San Francisco looks ahead to another early offseason, the franchise has turned the page in a few aspects, most notably by sending down veteran infielder Thairo Estrada to give the 22-year-old Luciano more playing time.

The former top Giants prospect has seen his stock fall in 2024 due to poor defense at the shortstop position, but San Francisco has plugged Luciano in at second base since recalling him from AAA Sacramento on September 3rd.

Learning curves like Sunday’s mishap will occur as the Giants continue to develop its two young infielders. Accountability is important, something that both Fitzgerald and Luciano displayed during postgame media availability.

“Just miscommunication on both of our parts,” Luciano said. “He didn’t hear me because it was loud here at the stadium. I didn’t hear him calling.”

With 18 games remaining, we’ll see if the Giants’ middle infield duo can build chemistry before September 29th’s season finale as San Francisco looks ahead to another offseason that will likely see many changes to its roster.

Fitzgerald addresses the infield miscommunication with Luciano and the heated interaction in the dugout afterward pic.twitter.com/TwdNa5bYSK

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 8, 2024