Royals rookie Jac Caglianone debuted to great fanfare on Tuesday. He took an 0 for 5, but still hit the ball hard a few times. Wednesday’s schedule game in St. Louis was postponed due to weather, moving things to a doubleheader on Thursday. In Caglianone’s second at-bat in the day game Thursday, he checked off three boxes.
Here’s Caglianone’s first career hit, a double, that brought home his first RBI. The 91.4 mph hit down the first-base line came off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas.
Through this double, Caglianone has seven career plate appearances and hasn’t struck out or walked. Swinging a lot is part of his game and he’s made solid contact with elite bat speed. Expect more of this along with plenty of home runs due to his raw power. Our R.J. Anderson dug more into that strength earlier this week when Caglianone was promoted:
Last year in the Arizona Fall League, Caglianone cleared 117 mph on a single. For perspective, only eight big-league players have toppled that threshold this season, and that group includes vaunted sluggers Elly De La Cruz, Aaron Judge, James Wood, and Shohei Ohtani. Earlier this year, he even toppled the 120 mph threshold.
Caglianone, 22, was the sixth overall pick out of the University of Florida in the 2024 MLB draft. In 50 games between Double-A and Triple-A before getting the call to the majors, he hit .322/.389/.593 with nine doubles, 15 homers, 56 RBI, 41 runs, 24 walks and 46 strikeouts.
The Royals came into Thursday’s doubleheader 32-29 on the season, sitting in fourth place in the AL Central, eight games behind the Tigers. That is, though, only half a game out of a wild-card spot, tied with the Rays and the Blue Jays, so they are very much contenders.
