One of baseball’s top hitting prospects is headed to the majors, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the Royals are calling up Jac Caglianone. The Royals have an off-day on Monday, which lines Caglianone up for his big league debut on Tuesday when the Royals start a series in St. Louis against the Cardinals. There are only 39 players on Kansas City’s 40-man roster, so the club can select Caglianone’s contract on Tuesday and then make just one corresponding transaction to create space on the active roster.
It was less than a year ago that Caglianone was still awaiting his draft call, as the University of Florida product was selected just in the 2024 draft when Kansas City took him sixth overall. Caglianone joins Cam Smith and Nick Kurtz as 2024 first-rounders that have already made their way to the Show, and Caglianone has (as you might expect) forced the issue by obliterating minor league pitching. While he had only a .690 OPS in 126 plate appearances at high-A ball in 2024, Caglianone has a combined .323/.391/.600 slash line in 225 combined PA at the Double-A and Triple-A levels this year.
Caglianone just played in his 12th Triple-A game today, so as dominant as the 22-year-old slugger has been, a case can be made that the Royals are being hasty in bringing him up to the majors this early in his pro career. That said, as MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted just a few days ago, K.C. might’ve felt a bit of added motivation due to how little the team has gotten from its lineup, particularly in the outfield.
Today’s 1-0 loss to the Tigers marked the Royals’ sixth shutout loss of the season. Kansas City is tied with the Pirates for the second-lowest run total (194) in baseball, ahead of only the woeful Rockies. With the Royals ranking at or near the bottom of the league in several other major offensive categories, something had to give, especially since the team’s strong rotation was almost single-handedly keeping K.C. in the AL Central race.
The seeds for Caglianone’s quick promotion were planted when he made his first appearance as an outfielder with Double-A NW Arkansas back in late April. Both a star first baseman and pitcher during his college days, Caglianone gave up on pitching to solely focus on hitting as a professional, and he has received a regular dose (though not an exclusive position change) of right field work over the last five weeks of minor league action.
With Vinnie Pasquantino playing first base in K.C. and several players getting cycled through the DH spot, putting Caglianone into right field is a logical way on paper for the Royals to both get a star prospect to the majors, and to help solve their longstanding need for outfield help. Even as the Royals reached the playoffs in 2024, their entire outfield was a major weak link, and Kansas City’s attempts to upgrade the position over the offseason just didn’t really pan out. Caglianone’s promotion is the latest step in a shake-up that has already seen MJ Melendez optioned to Triple-A in April, and Hunter Renfroe released earlier this week.
The left-handed hitting Caglianone figures to split time between right field, first base, and probably DH on occasion. Drew Waters and Kyle Isbel will continue to platoon in center field, while Mark Canha, Michael Massey, and Jonathan India will likely share left field duties, with Massey/India also playing at second base and Canha likely getting some time in right field spelling Caglianone against some southpaws. Broadly speaking, manager Matt Quatraro could be creative with his lineup given how Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia are the only regulars with above-average production, and even Witt’s 121 wRC+ is a sizeable step back from his MVP runner-up season in 2024.
It makes for a pressurized situation for Caglianone in his first taste of MLB action, as K.C. fans have, if anything, felt Caglianone was overdue for a promotion. Royals GM J.J. Picollo spoke of the situation to Passan earlier this week, saying “The hardest part about this for us is we’re trying to do what’s best for the player. That’s ultimately what this is. You want the player to be as prepared as he can when he comes in the major leagues. It’s not fair to any player, whether it’s Jac Caglianone or whoever, when a team may be scuffling offensively, to try to put it on him and hope he’s going to come save the day.”
Caglianone’s minor league numbers indicate that he is ready for a step up in competition. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the 22nd-best prospect in baseball prior to the season, ESPN had him 29th, and The Athletic’s Keith Law (60th) and Baseball America (63rd) also had the slugger deeper in their rankings. The pundits agree that Caglianone is a gifted hitter with huge power and exit-velocity numbers, but the only question is whether or not there’s too much swing-and-miss in his game to handle big league pitching. Caglianone has done well in posting respectable strikeout rates in the minors this year though his chase rate is still ungainly.
Due to his inclusion in the top-100 lists, Caglianone qualifies as a Prospect Promotion Incentive player. This means that if he finishes in the top two in AL Rookie of the Year voting, he’d earn a full year of service time despite not being called up until June. The timing of Caglianone’s call-up means that if he stays in the majors for the remainder of 2025, he’d be on pace to earn Super Two status and an extra year of arbitration eligibility down the road.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea — Imagn Images
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