This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Marco Luciano played in only six games at Triple-A Sacramento before earning his first callup with the Giants, but his initial stint in the Majors proved to be just as brief. 

Luciano started four games before being optioned on Tuesday to clear a spot on the 26-man roster for outfielder AJ Pollock, the Giants’ lone Trade Deadline acquisition. Luciano, the club’s No. 2 prospect, went 3-for-11 with a walk and five strikeouts, but the Giants didn’t have as many opportunities for him now that Brandon Crawford is healthy and Thairo Estrada is nearing a return from the injured list.

Unlike Luciano, fellow rookie Casey Schmitt is comfortable playing multiple positions, making him the better option to serve as San Francisco’s backup middle infielder once Estrada returns. The 21-year-old Luciano has exclusively played shortstop in his career, but he’s starting to take grounders at second base and is expected to get some exposure at the position at Triple-A Sacramento.

“All the skills and tools to play second base are intact,” manager Gabe Kapler said after the Giants’ 4-3 comeback win over the D-backs on Tuesday night. “The pregame work that we’ve done with him has been good. But we wanted him to go down and actually play some second base. We’re not 1,000 percent sure what our roster is going to look like two weeks from now. If he’s ready to come back, which is what I told him, it’ll be nice to know that he can go out there and play second base a little bit.” 

Luciano likely won’t be down for long, as the Giants were impressed with what they saw from the young infielder. 

“The conversation with Luci was 1,000 percent positive because he came here with a tremendous attitude, a hard-working mindset,” Kapler said. “All he did was good things for us. Good at-bats. Quality at shortstop. Quality in the clubhouse, ready to play all the way through the games that he started. Just outstanding across the board. I mentioned that to Luci, as well.”