Jac Caglianone has arrived.
The former Gator set records at Florida and moved through the minors in just 66 games, but his MLB debut in 2025 left something to be desired. Caglianone, the man who hit more homers than any other player who wore the Orange and Blue, slashed just .157/.237/.295 with seven home runs through 62 games last season.
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The advanced statistics were alarming. A -1.6 WAR and 46 wRC+ — where the league average is always 100 — told the story of a top prospect who wasn’t quite ready for the bright lights of The Show. He was only 22 years old after all. Still, the Kansas City Royals kept their sixth overall pick in 2024 at the major-league level, following a strong spring training appearance and some clutch moments with Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic.
That gamble is paying off.
Caglianone has hit six home runs in his last five games, including a pair of multi-homer games in the last three. The latest came in his hometown of Tampa against the Tampa Rays, which owns the No. 2 spot in the American League. Since May 8, Caglianone is slashing .303/.369/.563 with 10 home runs and 22 RBI. His walk rate of 8.3% is more than acceptable, and his strikeout rate is trending down from 30% to 25%.
There’s still work to be done, but hitting a groove 70 games into the season is a promising sign for a young player. The power was always going to come, but hitting for average and reaching base often aren’t the hallmarks of a slugger. What’s even more encouraging is where Caglianone is hitting the ball. Lefty mashers are supposed to hit towering home runs to right field, not 110-mph, line-drive ropes over the left field wall.
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“He’s pretty locked in,” manager Matt Quatraro said to MLB.com on Sunday. “That’s really impressive power to all fields, which we know he has, but when you put it into play, it’s really impressive.”
Caglianone’s advanced metrics have completely flipped. His 1.8 WAR is already 0.1 points away from a 1.9 projection from ZiPS, and his 132 wRC+ is well above what anyone expected. He’s not quite an All-Star, but he’ll be in the race next year if things keep on the same track.
Plenty of good players go through what’s known as a sophomore slump, but Caglianone is doing the opposite. A sophomore surfe, if you will. That’s the sign of a great player, perhaps even elite. What’s clear is that Caglianone is now comfortable hitting against the best pitchers in the world, and that’s enough for the rest of the league to fear him.
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“(Chasing bad pitches) too many times and the pitchers doubling up on it and me finally not swinging the second time,” Caglianone said. “That’s probably when it clicked… Say a quick cuss word and move on. Screw it, it’s over with. Also, if you know you made a bad swing decision, seven or eight times out of 10, the pitcher thinks he can get you on it again. So take the free ball after that. That’s the cat and mouse to it.”
The mental shift has worked, and the former Florida slugger is only starting to show the world what he’s capable of.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida baseball alum Jac Caglianone finding his groove with KC Royals
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
