KANSAS CITY, Mo. >> It was around this time last year that the Giants’ top baseball official declared him their shortstop heading into this season. It’s been four months since he was supposed to get a “good shot” at the job. Nine weeks since the team dealt its designated hitter to open at-bats for him.

Marco Luciano is taking it all in stride.

“Playing time is something that you earn. It’s not something that they’re going to give to you. I’m well aware that I have not performed to my ability,” the newly 23-year-old top prospect said Friday in Spanish through team interpreter Erwin Higueros. “But I do know that I have the talent. I do know that I can play. Obviously when I get an opportunity to play, that’s what I’m trying to show: that I do belong.”

In a 10-minute interview prior to the Giants’ series opener in Kansas City Friday, Luciano was courteous, diplomatic and professional, even if he had every right to be confused about the organization’s handling of the player considered their top prospect since he was 17 years old.

The hits kept coming, as Luciano was optioned to the minor leagues Saturday to clear a roster spot for Matt Chapman, who was reinstated from the paternity list. With only one game left in the Triple-A season, Luciano reported to Arizona, where he will began taking reps in the outfield for the first time in his career.

“We’ve been discussing it for a little while,” Melvin said Saturday. “His bat is his best tool. I don’t know that (moving to the outfield) doesn’t take a little pressure off him. When you get off to a rough start defensively, it can filter into your entire game, and maybe it has some.”

A day earlier, Luciano’s name was penciled in the lineup for the first time in four games and for only the eighth time in 16 games since being called up from Triple-A three days into September, when Melvin outlined the latest iteration of their plans for Luciano to get the bulk of the playing time at second base.

Only after being mathematically eliminated Thursday was Melvin comfortable inserting Luciano into the starting lineup, and only with Mason Black, not one of their premier starting pitchers, on the mound. Even then, in the seventh inning, Melvin subbed in Donovan Walton as a defensive replacement to protect their 2-0 lead.

“You know, we’re officially out of it now,” Melvin said before Friday’s game, explaining the decision to start Luciano after playing Walton, a 30-year-old minor-league journeyman, at second base the past three games in Baltimore. “But there’s a lot that factors into it, right? You’ve got to factor in everything. Performance, too.”

Luciano is the first to admit he hasn’t performed up to his own expectations in the limited opportunities he has received at the big-league level.

In spring training, he struck out in 35% of his plate appearances and batted .227, prompting the organization to give the Opening Day job to veteran free agent Nick Ahmed. When Ahmed landed on the injured list, Luciano took full advantage of his chance offensively but made five errors at shortstop. Since moving to second base, he’s made mistakes to be expected from a player learning a new position and allowed his defensive difficulties to bleed into his production at the plate.

He had three hits, two walks and 14 strikeouts in 33 plate appearances this month, lowering his batting average to .211 and OPS to .562. He is 126 plate appearances into his big-league career and still in search of his first home run, despite slugging at a .456 rate throughout his time in the minor leagues.

“I think I just have to continue to work,” Luciano said. “I think the only bright spot (of this season) is that sometimes I’ve been good in my batting, my hitting, but I haven’t been consistent. ... At this time, my frame of mind is, I don’t care where the manager, where they want me to play. They want me to play second, short, in the outfield, I really don’t care where I play. My main concern is I just want to get at-bats.”

It remains an open discussion in the organization whether Luciano will play winter ball in his native Dominican Republic for a third straight offseason. He was the top draft pick in the Dominican Winter League three years ago but aggravated his back injury in 2022 and struggled mightily last winter.

He told The Athletic earlier this month that he planned to skip winter ball and instead workout with his longtime trainer, Edwin Castillo. But on Friday, he said, “I could play, but I haven’t made up my mind. It’s not a sure thing yet” and declined to discuss the topic further.

Melvin said, “We brought it up. We’ll see how it goes and how the season ends. I don’t think anything has been decided there.”

Luciano’s positional future is just as much of an open question, with evaluators’ long-held doubts about his ability to stick in the infield largely vindicated by his defensive display this season and the Giants’ decision to move him off shortstop.

“We’ll see where it goes,” Melvin said. You gain some confidence, you swing the bat, you’re in a different position, then I think anything’s on the table for him.”

Melvin acknowledged that the development Luciano requires is “hard” to achieve with the inconsistent playing time he’s gotten but pushed back on the notion that the organization has given him mixed messages, saying, “Look, he’s going to come to the ballpark and if his name is in the lineup, he’s going to play.