Jac Caglianone was standing at the doorstep of his childhood dreams.
The uber-talented, two-way phenom was just weeks away from becoming an early-round selection in the 2021 MLB Draft. Scouts raved about his physical, 6-foot-5 frame and his 98 mph fastball.
Teams flocked to H.B. Plant High School in Tampa, Florida, to watch his games. It quickly became clear that Caglianone was worth their attention as a future star … pitcher.
“Scouts would come and watch him pitch,” said Dennis Braun, Caglianone’s high school coach. “And when I took him out (of a game), they would leave. I’d always say, ‘I can’t believe they’re not going to stay here and watch his last at-bat.’” Caglianone was labeled a high-profile prospect. Scouts loved his two-way ability — batting and pitching — but said his metrics indicated pitching would be his wiser route to Major League Baseball.
Life had other plans. Three months before the 2021 draft, Caglianone blew out his arm in an all-star game. He needed Tommy John surgery and his aspirations of playing professional baseball were officially on hold.
Caglianone was devastated. His father, Jeff, tried his best to console his son. After setting records as a pitcher and hitter, Jac Caglianone was now dealing with a major setback.
And a chance to reset. “It was tough on him,” Jeff said. “Jac has got a lot of friends in baseball and guys that he was ecstatic for that got drafted in the first round. And I’m sure he would’ve liked to be one of them as well. He didn’t let it dampen what his goals were.”
The injury offers an interesting glimpse into who Caglianone is today, at age 22. He could’ve decided to continue focusing solely on pitching, but he made a choice back then that changed his life.
“He sucked it up and went to (the University of) Florida, and in our minds nothing better could’ve happened,” his dad explained. “Honestly, if he would’ve got drafted out of high school, I don’t know if he would’ve ever picked up a bat again.”
Little ‘Big’ Leaguer
It was nearly impossible for Jeff Caglianone
and his wife Johanne to take a baseball out of their son’s hands.
Jac — born Jeffrey Alan Caglianone — was drawn to the sport right away. He wanted to be at the field every day and would go out of his way to make it happen. It was a daily routine: school, practice, dinner and then directly to the park.
“He actually started playing at three years old at the (YMCA) with tee ball because he couldn’t join Little League yet,” Jeff said. “I had kind of coached him since he was three. Once he got to Dennis (Braun), I was like let’s let someone else do it.”
The Caglianone family was a fixture at Carol Kennedy Field. They found joy in the late-night car rides after practice and weekend travel-ball trips.
“We really would kind of dissect it,” Jeff Caglianone said of the games. “And he seemed to really enjoy that. I think it helped him a lot along the way to be a better player.”
Along the way came so many memories. At age 10, his date recalled, Caglianone hit a 275-foot home run at the Disney Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Florida, near Orlando.
It wasn’t long before he was also striking out opponents at an advanced rate as a pitcher — while at the same time growing bigger and faster physically.
“He always had it, candidly,” Jeff said of his son’s abilities. “He always hit the ball hard and hit the ball far. He did that since he was a little kid. But when you are 6-foot-5 in high school and throwing 98 mph from the left side, it seems like everyone was more interested from the pitching side.”
Caglianone spent his freshman season at Berkeley Prep (also in Tampa) before transferring to Plant High as a sophomore. Plant was known for producing such big-league stars as Pete Alonso (New York Mets) and Kyle Tucker (Chicago Cubs).
Major-leaguers Preston Tucker and Mychal Givens also played there, but the program’s most famous product has to be Pro Baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs.
Caglianone had yet to do anything memorable in a Plant uniform, but it soon became apparent that there was something different about him. For starters, he possessed an insatiable hunger to win at all costs.
“He is a go, go, go,” Braun said, “and he can be all gas and no brakes.”
Braun believes Caglianone thrived with that competitive nature. There were times the coach benched him in hopes of reining him in, but Braun said Caglianone took even that coaching in stride and remained the consummate teammate.
“I think the thing that sticks out to me about Jac is that he was always a superbig kid and an extremely hard worker,” Braun said. “He would always go to the weight room before school, and not every kid does that.
“He did the work that people don’t see and I think that’s been a big part of where he has gotten to.”
Caglianone continued to mature and eventually set club records at Plant High School. Then he decided to play for the home-state Florida Gators as a two-way college athlete, both hitting and pitching.
“He loves the game and he loves every bit of it,” Braun said. “And that part is infectious.”
Florida Man
Caglianone redshirted his first season at Florida.
He was still around the team, but he wasn’t able to play in games. He began taking batting practice before games in order to maintain his swing.
Caglianone impressed the Gators’ coaching staff right away. BP became an attraction as he demonstrated his raw power to all fields.
Late in the 2022 season, the UF coaches presented Caglianone with an opportunity: He could burn his redshirt status and become the team’s designated hitter.
After consulted with Braun, as well as his parents, Caglianone joined the Gators’ lineup.
“He started when there were 27 games left in the year,” Jeff said, “and he got the opportunity to hit and certainly did what Coach Braun and I knew he could do.”
Caglianone batted .288 with seven home runs and 27 RBIs in 104 plate appearances. He finished his abbreviated stint that year with seven multi-hit games and made the All-SEC Tournament Team.
By 2024, Caglianone was among the biggest stars on the Gainesville, Fla. campus. He’d depart the Gators owning the program record for home runs — 75 — and a career college ERA of 4.55.
At the plate, Caglianone’s power was frequently on display. He tied an NCAA record by belting home runs in nine consecutive games. He was a first-team All-American in 2024 and was honored with the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year award.
Eventually, the Royals expressed their interest in Caglianone. They scouted him for a while and then reached out to Braun and others for more information about him.
And then, last summer, KC selected Caglianone with the sixth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.
“I love the way he plays the game,” Royals scouting director Brian Bridges said. “He is a good kid and he is a professional off the field. But on the field, he has a little Chase Utley to him. He plays hard, loves his teammates and wants to win.”
After an arduous journey, Caglianone was on the cusp of dreams becoming reality.
KC’s newest star
It’s only a matter of time before Caglianone is called up to the major leagues in Kansas City. For now, though, he is learning the ropes in the Royals’ farm system at Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Ahead of Wednesday’s game, Caglianone was hitting .330 with eight home runs and 31 RBIs in 109 at-bats for the Naturals. He continues to adjust to (and increasingly devour) Class AA pitching while navigating the ebbs and flows of pro ball.
Each day has been vastly different. Caglianone registered his first multi-homer game on Tuesday against the Wichita Wind Surge. He’s also started playing right field, yet another key step in his development.
“We need him to keep doing what he is doing,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said. “In our minds, there are two leagues. There’s the minor leagues and there’s the big leagues. So if you are in A-Ball, Double-A or Triple-A, it’s still the minor leagues.
“We are not in any rush to get him to Triple-A. Not saying it’s not been discussed, but there is no timetable on it.”
The Royals have publicly professed their patience with Caglianone and his timeline in the minor leagues, but it’s getting difficult to ignore his glitzy offensive production. Fans have noticed, too, clamoring for “Cags” to be called up to help the parent club’s sluggish offense.
Over the last two seasons, Royals outfielders haven’t produced at high level. The team searched for a middle-of-theorder bat this past offseason, a power- hitting outfielder capable of boosting the lineup.
