While the Kansas City Royals season has been a clear disappointment, it has not all been negative for the club. The team will likely have to sell at this year’s trade deadline, entering Friday’s series opener against the Houston Astros owning a 28-41 record and sitting 13 games under .500.
However, even if they do sell, they have some promising young pieces to make this more of a retooling era rather than a full-on rebuild. Of course they have the left side of the infield secured with superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and All-Star third baseman Maikel Garcia.
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But another important young player sits in the outfield in Jac Caglianone. Caglianone was called up halfway through the 2025 season to help the Royals push for the playoffs and really struggled. However, he has made the adjustments, and this year he has been incredible at the plate.
When asked on a recent appearance on MLB Network about the biggest difference between his first and second season, Caglianone replied, “I think the biggest thing for me is not crashing too hard on my front side and keeping my head still. That gives you the best opportunity to see the ball. We have been doing a lot of work here in the cages working on that type of stuff, and it’s been showing a little bit.”
He was also asked about the lesson learned during his rough stint last year that he has carried into this season. “For me, it’s not getting too high or too low. Last year, I was so hyperfixated on all the negatives that I dug myself a hole. This year, I just wanted to have an optimistic mindset. I wanted to let each day live and die on its own and know that each is going to bring new challenges and opportunities. As long as you’re in the right mental headspace, the sky is the limit,” Caglianone said.
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Caglianone was drafted sixth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft and reached the big leagues in less than a year. However, he quickly struggled against big-league pitching, collecting 33 hits and 52 strikeouts in 210 at-bats last season.
This year, he has taken a huge step forward, posting a .279 batting average, .351 on-base percentage, .807 OPS, eight home runs and 19 RBIs across 63 games.
It is clear he has all the talent in the world, and this could just be the beginning of his breakout. If his mindset is as locked in as his quotes suggest, Kansas City may have found one of the better young bats in the American League for years to come.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
