How much longer will it be before Jac Caglianone gets the call up to the major leagues and adds his bat to the Kansas City Royals lineup?
The Royals No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft (No. 6 overall) and the organization’s top prospect as rated by MLB.com and The Athletic, Caglianone crushed his fifth home run of the season for Double-A Northern Arkansas on Saturday. The ball sailed high over the right field fence, landing on the roof of the training facility behind the ballpark.
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Caglianone, who played first base and pitched at Florida, is concentrating on hitting in the Royals’ system and played his fourth game of the season in right field on Saturday. That could be the key to him joining Kansas City’s lineup sooner rather than later, with the Royals already having Vinnie Pasquantino at first base.
Pasquantino is hitting just .181 with a .586 OPS after 33 games, but leads the Royals with five home runs and 21 RBI. So Caglianone likely wouldn’t replace him if and when he’s called up. But he might provide more of an upgrade in the outfield, where Kansas City isn’t getting much offense.
Royals outfielders are batting a combined .207/.281/.287 with five homers and 31 RBI. Right fielder Hunter Renfroe has a slash average of .151/.231/.186 with no home runs and isn’t playing good defense either, credited with -6 Defensive Runs Saved and -1 Outs Above Average.
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Kansas City’s offense could use a boost in general with a team batting average of .231 (10th in the American League) and .631 OPS (14th). The Royals also rank next-to-last in the league with 109 runs scored and last in MLB with 18 home runs.
In early April, Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said the organization didn’t want to rush his development and put him in the majors before he was ready. That may be especially true if he needs more time to acclimate to the outfield. So a promotion to Triple-A might be in order before he gets the call to Kansas City.
Yet with the Royals currently in third place in the AL Central, three games behind the Detroit Tigers, at 18-16, the opportunity could be there to make a move in the division. The pitching is there with a 3.08 team ERA (fourth in MLB) and a .226 opponents’ batting average (sixth). With possible offensive help available in the minors, how long can the team wait to add some pop to its lineup?