KC rewards No. 1 prospect Caglianone with Spring Training invite
Anne Rogers
@anne__rogers
KANSAS CITY – Jac Caglianone, the top-ranked Royals prospect and No. 17 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list, just finished up a whirlwind 2024, but it only took him a few weeks of relaxing in the offseason to be ready to return to the field.
And when the 21-year-old first baseman does arrive to Surprise, Ariz., for Spring Training in just over a month, it will be alongside his future teammates in Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez.
The Royals are inviting Caglianone, the No. 6 selection in the 2024 MLB Draft, to big league camp ahead of his first full professional season. The club will release its Spring Training non-roster invite list on Friday, and it will feature Caglianone along with top hitting prospects Blake Mitchell (No. 2) and Carter Jensen (No. 5).
“Being able to share a field with Bobby and Vinnie, being able to see how much influence Salvy has with being the captain and go-to guy is really exciting,” Caglianone said in a phone conversation. “I’m super excited to learn from them. And everyone has been super welcoming so far, getting to know Blake and Jensen from last year. I think the transition is going to be really smooth. I’m super excited.”
Inviting a first-round player just drafted and about to embark on their first professional season to Spring Training is rare for the Royals, who haven’t done so since Alex Gordon in 2006. (The exception is Brandon Finnegan, but he was on the 40-man roster in 2015 because he came up at the end of ‘14 after being drafted that summer.)
General manager J.J. Picollo said it’s a testament to Caglianone’s ability and to the way the game has evolved. College players are increasingly more developed when they get to pro ball, and a player like Caglianone was facing top talent during his time at Florida in the Southeastern Conference.
“We were really impressed with the way he handled himself from a maturity standpoint this year,” Picollo said. “That’s one of the biggest determining factors in our minds. To put a guy in an environment with a bunch of Major League players, they’ve got to be mature. And then obviously his ability. Watching what he did and the adjustments he made from [High-A] Quad Cities to the Fall League, he kept getting better and better. It’s more consistent [exit] velocity, he’s putting the ball in play, hitting it to all fields. He’s got crazy power. He’s extremely confident in his abilities.
“... You want him to be around winners. We’ve got a bunch of winners in our clubhouse, and the more he understands what our culture is about, the better, because it’s a culture that hopefully one day he’s leading.”
Despite being the best two-way player in college baseball, Caglianone was drafted as high as he was last year because of his bat, which wields otherworldly raw power. Even so, the Royals still selected him as a two-way player because of his tools on the mound, as well as his interest to explore doing both at the next level.
But Caglianone will focus solely on hitting in ‘25 because that’s the fastest way he can impact the big league team.
After discussing a plan for the upcoming season, Caglianone and the Royals agreed it was best to focus on hitting and playing first base to get him started in his career. He was all for it because he wants to help Kansas City win. And the sooner, the better. Caglianone is a physical beast with exceptional power potential. He won’t break camp with the Royals – it’s most likely he’ll start the year in Double-A – but no one is ruling out a quick ascension.
“It’s really important for me to focus on the biggest impact I think I can make right now, and that’s on the offensive side at the Major League level,” Caglianone said. “We both agree on that. I think that would be the fastest track to getting there. The pitching is something I need to develop a little bit more, and it’s like, ‘Will that delay my arrival time?’ More than likely, that’s true.
“For me, pitching is always going to be there. You can’t not hit for a year and think you can go back out there and see really good arms and have success. But the pitching side, as long as you keep up with the small things like arm care, it’ll be there. So that’s my thought with it. And I'm happy to do whatever to help the team. I just want to win.”
The Royals believe simplifying Caglianone’s plan as a position player will help his defense at first base, too, especially by working with infield coach José Alguacil in Spring Training. The Royals might have Caglianone begin working in the outfield later in the season depending on how he’s progressing; if he does move fast through the Minors, they’ll need versatility.
“The more simple we can keep things, the more likely guys are to succeed,” Picollo said. “By allowing him to focus on his offensive approach, seeing higher level and better pitching early on in his career, will all help. … Now he gets a chance to focus on first base, develop his skills defensively – and hit.”
After signing with the Royals last summer, Caglianone made his pro debut in High-A and slashed .241/.302/.388 with nine doubles, two homers and 14 RBIs in 126 plate appearances. In the Arizona Fall League, he posted a .749 OPS across 100 plate appearances, with five homers and 21 RBIs.
“I struggled a bit in Quad Cities, and I was like, ‘You’re really sending me to the Fall League? I’m hitting .240,’” Caglianone said with a laugh. “But to go to the Fall League and be surrounded by a bunch of great dudes who wanted nothing but for everyone to succeed, I finally felt like, ‘OK, I’m comfortable now, I know how professional baseball works a little bit more, and the confidence is very high.’ I was feeling really good. Now I’m super excited for it to start up again.
“I want to barrel up more baseballs," he added. "My biggest focus is just producing. My biggest goal is to help the team win and take it as far as we possibly can.”