The Kansas City Royals really uplifted their fans’ excitement this week when they announced that three of their top young talents would be joining them at the big league level amid their postseason push.
Of those three names, the two most exciting were former top prospect Jac Caglianone, as he would be returning from a lengthy rehab stint, and Carter Jensen, who would be set for his long-awaited major league debut.
Both have been such key cogs in the Omaha Storm Chasers’ lineup in recent weeks, who’s offense has exploded at certain times.
But Tuesday marked the team’s first time without Caglianone or Jensen for some time, and it’s safe to say their presence was missed.
Omaha Storm Chasers shutout miserably in first game since promising duo were promoted to Royals
In their series opener on the road against the Iowa Cubs on Tuesday, Omaha were blanked in a dramatic 12-0 fashion as neither the hitting nor pitching was impressive by even a stretch.
While Omaha’s pitching has been suspect all season, their offense has had plenty to be excited about of late. Whether it be from their promising young names or from the myriad of former big league veterans they’ve deployed as organizational depth who’ve really found their footing in professional baseball once again, there was plenty of reason to be optimistic at the dish.
But it wasn’t simply a 12-0 thrashing, it was the fact that they really didn’t create any real chances to get on the board. They only managed to to generate a measly two hits and a matching pair of two walks while striking out 12 times.
However, when you eliminate two forces like Caglianone and Jensen from the heart of the order, a regression was all but written in the stars for the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate.
Since starting his rehab assignment in early August, Caglianone looked like a polar opposite hitter to the 29 wRC+ performer he was at the big league level before his hamstring injury. In 16 games, he slashed .385/.467/.692 with five home runs, 16 RBI and a 200 wRC+.
Then, there was Jensen, who after dazzling in Double-A earlier in the season, looked even stronger at the Triple-A level. In 43 games in Omaha, Jensen slashed .288/.404/.647 with 14 homers, 39 RBI and a 169 wRC+.
Not every game will look like this for the Storm Chasers and in the grand scheme of things, with a 55-76 record, they haven’t been gearing up to play for any minor league honors anyways this season.
However, for their diehard supporters, Tuesday was surely a tough watch for an offense that had been so captivating in the month of August.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source kingsofkauffman.com ’
