Royals Legend Wants Jac Caglianone Called Up Now

The answer to the Kansas City Royals’ offensive struggles this season may lie in their 2024 first-round draft pick Jac Caglianone.

The 7-6 Royals have hit 6 home runs this season, tied for the fewest in Major League Baseball. They rank 20th in BA, 26th in OBP, 27th in SLG, and 25th in OPS. They have been carried by their strong pitching staff, especially from the likes of Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic, with the latter having 0.0 ERA in 2 starts. The club ranks first in the American League for ERA with 3.05.

With the bats turned cold, many are pondering the promotion of Caglianone, who is slashing .346/.406/1.021 with 11 RBIs in six games in double-A with the Northwest Arkansas Roughriders. One of these voices is none other than Royals legend and World Series champion Eric Hosmer, who won the coveted prize with the Boys in Blue in 2015.

Speaking on the Digging Deep podcast, Hosmer said, “I’m a little upset the program has waited this long to bring him up. We need this guy in Kansas City right now. This dude is straight-up dominating the minor leagues.”

The 22-year-old went viral on social media this week for mashing a home run with an exit velocity of 116 mph. He also hit a single with an exit velocity of 120.9 mph. In the Statcast era, the hardest ball hit by a Royal was Hosmer at 118 mph.

Despite the good early signs, the Royals prefer to do things “the right way” with Caglianone, according to GM J.J. Picollo. A few weeks ago, he emphasized that the club wanted him to develop more experience before his big move to the Major Leagues. Still, that doesn’t mean a call-up is impossible this season. “He just needs to keep building that foundation to become a ready Major League hitter,” Picollo said. “‘When’ is a tough question to answer, but clearly what we saw this camp was very impressive.”

The Royals will begin their three-game series at the Cleveland Guardians starting on Friday, April 11th.