Roundup: Giants invite Luciano, Ramos to camp

Joey Bart made his Major League debut during the shortened 2020 season. This spring, the Giants will take a closer look at their three other Top-100 prospects.

No. 16 overall prospect Marco Luciano, No. 82 Heliot Ramos and No. 83 Hunter Bishop all received non-roster invitations to San Francisco's Major League Spring Training camp on Friday, the club announced. Bart (No. 23) will also be there as a member of the 40-man roster.

Luciano, 19, has climbed quickly to the top spot in the Giants prospect rankings. The shortstop enjoyed a breakout season in 2019, hitting .302/.417/.564 with 10 homers over 47 games between the Rookie-level Arizona League and Class A Short Season Salem-Keizer. That performance came in Luciano's age-17 season, earning him bonus points for his performance despite jumping stateside at such a young age. The Dominican Republic native also impressed last year with his work at the alternate training site and instructional league as the Giants continued to get aggressive with his assignments, even in a season without Minor League Baseball.

Luciano showcases tremendous raw power and shows a promising hit tool from the right side. A plus arm should help him stick at shortstop in the long term, but even if he ends up moving, his bat should provide value from any defensive spot. Luciano is expected to make his full-season debut with either Low-A San Jose or High-A Eugene this summer.

Ramos can also show above-average power and a solid hitting tool. He has experience at Double-A and produced a .290/.369/.481 line with 16 homers in 102 games between that level and Class A Advanced in 2019. The 2017 first-rounder has played a lot of center field but is more likely to move to right field due to his average speed and plus arm.

Like Luciano, Bishop is still awaiting his first full Minor League summer. The 10th overall pick in 2019 played only 32 games in his Draft year, and what would have been his first full season in 2020 was, of course, canceled by the pandemic. Bishop showcases plus speed and plus power as a left-handed hitter, making him one of the toolsiest prospects in the San Francisco system. He can strike out in bunches, drawing his overall hitting ability into question, and reducing those should be a focus in 2021. Bishop has only played center field in pro ball, and his speed could help him stick there higher up the chain.

No. 6 Giants prospect Patrick Bailey, No. 10 Sean Hjelle, No. 11 Will Wilson, No. 19 Tristan Beck, No. 20 Logan Wyatt, No. 22 Kai-Wei Teng and No. 29 Ricardo Genoves also received non-roster invitations Friday.

San Francisco pitchers and catchers are scheduled to have their first workout next Wednesday in Scottsdale, Arizona. The first full-squad workout is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 22.

In other spring invite news:

Padres invite 33 to camp: MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams and Robert Hassell III headline the list of spring non-roster invitees for San Diego. Gore, the sixth overall prospect in baseball, is returning to big league camp after a brief stint last year with the Padres where he appeared in a pair of games and tossed 1 2/3 Cactus League frames. The third overall pick in 2017 played his way to Double-A Amarillo in his third professional season where he made five starts and whiffed 25 over 21 2/3 Texas League innings. That season the left-hander was a Future’s Game selection, as well as an MiLB.com Organization All-Star, MiLB.com staff choice for starting pitcher of the year and MLBPipeline.com Pitcher of the Year.

No. 8 overall prospect Abrams was taken sixth overall by San Diego in the 2019 Draft. The shortstop spent almost most of his rookie campaign with the rookie-level Arizona League Padres where he batted .401/.442/.662 with 40 runs scored and 22 RBIs. Abrams was named AZL Padres 1 MVP as well as a post-season all-star. Hassell, 62nd overall prospect, was selected with the eighth pick in the 2020 Draft out of Independence High School in Tennessee. Considered the best pure hitter in the 2020 high school draft class, the toolsy outfielder possesses a 60-grade hit tool to go with 55 grades in speed, fielding and arm strength.

Among the other Friars non-roster invitees were No. 8 prospect Justin Lange, No. 10 Joshua Mears, No. 17 Jagger Haynes, No. 18 Steven Wilson, No. 19 Pedro Avila, No. 21 Eguy Rosario, No. 24 Reiss Knehr and No. 29 Jacob Nix.

Orioles add Rutschman, Kjerstad as NRIs: A pair of top picks headline group of non-roster invitees headed to camp with Baltimore. Adley Rutschman, No. 1 overall pick in 2019, will get his another taste of Major League Spring Training. The second-ranked overall prospect notched a hit and worked a walk in seven Grapefruit League games in 2020. Rutschman finished his lone pro season in Class A Delmarva where he posted a .985 fielding percentage behind the dish for the Shorebirds in 2019.

Heston Kjerstad was taken No. 2 overall in the 2020 Draft by Baltimore. The outfielder out of Arkansas flexes a 60-grade power tool after setting a Razorbacks freshman home run record with 14 in 2018 and following that up with 17 more his sophomore year. The 22-year-old and No. 69 overall prospect also boasts a 55-grade arm that plays above average in either corner outfield spot.

The other ranked Baltimore prospects to receive non-roster invitations were No. 6 Gunnar Henderson, No. 7 Jordan Westburg, No. 13 Terrin Vavra and No. 16 Adam Hall.

Rays add a pair of Top-100 prospects to camp: Two weeks after announcing that baseball’s top overall prospect Wander Franco would be at big league camp this month, Tampa Bay added No. 85 overall Xavier Edwards and No. 90 Shane Baz.

Edwards, selected 38th overall in the 2018 Draft by the Padres, opened the 2019 season with Class A Fort Wayne where he hit .336/.392/.414 over 77 Midwest League games before being promoted to the Cal League where he finished the season with a .301/.349/.367 slash line in 46 games. He was named a midseason and postseason all-star with Fort Wayne, as well as an MiLB.com Organization All-Star following that season. The shortstop was a focal point of a deal that December that sent him to Tampa Bay as part of a five-player deal that included Tommy Pham.

Baz was taken with the 12th overall pick in 2017 by the Pirates. The right-hander was the PTBNL in the deal that sent Chris Archer to Pittsburgh in 2018. Baz made 17 starts for Class A Bowling Green in 2019 and posted a 2.99 ERA with 87 punchouts in 81 1/3 innings. The Cypress, Texas native followed that up with a breakout campaign in the Arizona Fall League where he was named a rising star with the Salt River Rafters.

Among the other Rays non-roster invitees were No. 11 Joe Ryan, No. 13 Greg Jones, No. 17 Moises Gomez and No. 24 Blake Hunt.

Blue Jays invite 28 to camp: Austin Martin, Jordan Groshans and Simeon Woods Richardson headline the list of spring non-roster invitees for Toronto. Martin was selected with the fifth overall pick in last year’s Draft and was considered by many to be the best pure hitter available. The No. 22 overall prospect had his 65-grade hit tool on display at Vanderbilt when he led the Commodores to the College World Series title in his sophomore season while leading the Southeastern Conference with a .391 batting average.

Groshans, the 46th overall prospect, was taken No. 12 overall in the 2018 Draft. The shortstop spent the 2019 season with Class A Lansing where he hit .337/.427/.482 over 23 games. Richardson was a second-round selection of the Mets in 2018. The right-hander was dealt to the Blue Jays at the 2019 trade deadline as part of the deal that sent former ace Marcus Stroman to New York. The No. 87 overall prospect made six starts for Class A Advanced Dunedin and posted a 2.54 ERA.

Among the other Jays non-roster invitees were No. 5 Alek Manoah, No. 7 Orelvis Martinez, No. 9 Miguel Hiraldo, No. 10 Adam Kloffenstein, No. 11 CJ Van Eyk, No. 14 Leonardo Jimenez, No. 19 Anthony Castro, No. 20 Kevin Smith, No. 28 Joey Murray and No. 29 Chavez Young.