Considered one of baseball’s prime hitting prospects is headed to the majors, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan stories that the Royals are calling up Jac Caglianone. The Royals have an off-day on Monday, which traces Caglianone up for his massive league debut on Tuesday when the Royals begin a collection in St. Louis towards the Cardinals. There are solely 39 gamers on Kansas Metropolis’s 40-man roster, so the membership can choose Caglianone’s contract on Tuesday after which make only one corresponding transaction to create house on the energetic roster.
It was lower than a yr in the past that Caglianone was nonetheless awaiting his draft name, because the College of Florida product was chosen simply within the 2024 draft when Kansas Metropolis took him sixth total. Caglianone joins Cam Smith and Nick Kurtz as 2024 first-rounders which have already made their solution to the Present, and Caglianone has (as you would possibly count on) pressured the problem by obliterating minor league pitching. Whereas he had solely a .690 OPS in 126 plate appearances at high-A ball in 2024, Caglianone has a mixed .323/.391/.600 slash line in 225 mixed PA on the Double-A and Triple-A ranges this yr.
Caglianone simply performed in his twelfth Triple-A recreation right this moment, in order dominant because the 22-year-old slugger has been, a case might be made that the Royals are being hasty in bringing him as much as the majors this early in his professional profession. That stated, as MLBTR’s Steve Adams famous just some days in the past, Okay.C. would possibly’ve felt a little bit of added motivation as a result of how little the staff has gotten from its lineup, notably within the outfield.
At this time’s 1-0 loss to the Tigers marked the Royals’ sixth shutout lack of the season. Kansas Metropolis is tied with the Pirates for the second-lowest run whole (194) in baseball, forward of solely the woeful Rockies. With the Royals rating at or close to the underside of the league in a number of different main offensive classes, one thing needed to give, particularly for the reason that staff’s sturdy rotation was nearly single-handedly protecting Okay.C. within the AL Central race.
The seeds for Caglianone’s fast promotion had been planted when he made his first look as an outfielder with Double-A NW Arkansas again in late April. Each a star first baseman and pitcher throughout his faculty days, Caglianone gave up on pitching to solely deal with hitting as knowledgeable, and he has acquired an everyday dose (although not an unique place change) of proper subject work over the past 5 weeks of minor league motion.
With Vinnie Pasquantino taking part in first base in Okay.C. and several other gamers getting cycled via the DH spot, placing Caglianone into proper subject is a logical approach on paper for the Royals to each get a star prospect to the majors, and to assist clear up their longstanding want for outfield assist. Even because the Royals reached the playoffs in 2024, their total outfield was a significant weak hyperlink, and Kansas Metropolis’s makes an attempt to improve the place over the offseason simply didn’t actually pan out. Caglianone’s promotion is the newest step in a shake-up that has already seen MJ Melendez optioned to Triple-A in April, and Hunter Renfroe launched earlier this week.
The left-handed hitting Caglianone figures to separate time between proper subject, first base, and possibly DH once in a while. Drew Waters and Kyle Isbel will proceed to platoon in heart subject, whereas Mark Canha, Michael Massey, and Jonathan India will doubtless share left subject duties, with Massey/India additionally taking part in at second base and Canha doubtless getting a while in proper subject spelling Caglianone towards some southpaws. Broadly talking, supervisor Matt Quatraro could possibly be inventive together with his lineup given how Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia are the one regulars with above-average manufacturing, and even Witt’s 121 wRC+ is a sizeable step again from his MVP runner-up season in 2024.
It makes for a pressurized state of affairs for Caglianone in his first style of MLB motion, as Okay.C. followers have, if something, felt Caglianone was overdue for a promotion. Royals GM J.J. Picollo spoke of the state of affairs to Passan earlier this week, saying “The toughest half about this for us is we’re attempting to do what’s finest for the participant. That’s finally what that is. You need the participant to be as ready as he can when he comes within the main leagues. It’s not honest to any participant, whether or not it’s Jac Caglianone or whoever, when a staff could also be scuffling offensively, to attempt to put it on him and hope he’s going to return save the day.”
Caglianone’s minor league numbers point out that he’s prepared for a step up in competitors. MLB Pipeline ranked him because the Twenty second-best prospect in baseball previous to the season, ESPN had him twenty ninth, and The Athletic’s Keith Regulation (sixtieth) and Baseball America (63rd) additionally had the slugger deeper of their rankings. The pundits agree that Caglianone is a gifted hitter with large energy and exit-velocity numbers, however the one query is whether or not or not there’s an excessive amount of swing-and-miss in his recreation to deal with massive league pitching. Caglianone has completed properly in posting respectable strikeout charges within the minors this yr although his chase fee remains to be ungainly.
Attributable to his inclusion within the top-100 lists, Caglianone qualifies as a Prospect Promotion Incentive participant. Which means that if he finishes within the prime two in AL Rookie of the Yr voting, he’d earn a full yr of service time regardless of not being referred to as up till June. The timing of Caglianone’s call-up signifies that if he stays within the majors for the rest of 2025, he’d be on tempo to earn Tremendous Two standing and an additional yr of arbitration eligibility down the highway.
Picture courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea — Imagn Pictures
