The Kansas City Royals look a lot different than they did the last time Jac Caglianone suited up in the big leagues.
Caglianone suffered a hamstring strain on July 26 in a game against the division-rival Cleveland Guardians. It seemed when he was called up that Caglianone would make or break the Royals’ season, but he’s been out of sight, out of mind while they’ve been trying to mount a playoff push.
However, with Monday’s roster expansion date looming, it seems all too obvious that Caglianone is about to get his second chance.
Royals fans hardly need a reminder, but Caglianone struggled mightily when he first came up. In 41 games, he slashed .147/.205/.280. That’s good for an OPS+ of 35, and because he’s also still learning to play right field on the fly, his offensive and defensive contributions added up to -1.3 bWAR.
But Caglianone has been shredding Triple-A pitching on his rehab assignment, batting .383 with a .667 slugging percentage in 14 games this month. And when the team is allowed to add one more position player to the roster on Monday without sacrificing anyone on the current depth chart, there’s hardly any mystery about Caglianone being the choice.
Still, the question looms: what sort of role will the 22-year-old play in this trip back to the majors? He’s certainly not going to take the starting right field job from Mike Yastrzemski, who has a .959 OPS in 24 games since he was traded to Kansas City, anytime soon.
Presumably, the Royals can get Caglianone some designated hitter at-bats on nights when Salvador Perez is catching, which is more often than it was during the rookie’s first stint, while Freddy Fermin was still around. Perhaps they can even try him out in left field, or shift Yastrzemski to left and open up right.
But with the Royals only three games out of wild card position, this is no time to force-feed Caglianone at-bats. His opportunity is coming, but the leash should be a lot shorter than it was early in the summer.
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