The Kansas City Royals are promoting top prospect Jac Caglianone to the majors, according to ESPN. Caglianone, the No. 6 pick in last summer’s draft, could make his big-league debut as soon as Tuesday, when the Royals host the St. Louis Cardinals.
Caglianone, 22, had hit .322/.389/.593 with 15 home runs across Double- and Triple-A through his first 50 games this season. A recent promotion to Triple-A coincided with a hot streak that saw him bat .319/.370/.723 with six home runs in 12 games. CBS Sports recently broke down Caglianone’s season in more detail. Here’s what we wrote at the time:
Caglianone was the most interesting player in last year’s draft class — not only because of his two-way talent (though he’s yet to pitch professionally and I’m not sure that he ever will), but because of a polarizing offensive skill set. I knew teams who had him outside of the top 10 on their preference lists because of the doubts engendered by his swing-happy approach. Caglianone’s boosters pointed to his elite strength and feel for the barrel as reasons to believe. The latter ultimately won out, as he went No. 6 in the draft.
So far, his advocates look right. He’s homered five times in his first six Triple-A games, running his seasonal line to .326/.389/.607 in 44 games. Will his swing-happy approach (he would have one of the five highest chase rates among qualifiers) work in the majors? I’m looking forward to finding out, and based on Kansas City’s outfield play, I suspect that he’ll be receiving the call sooner than later.
Caglianone figures to see most of his action in the outfield. The Royals entered Sunday with zero active outfielders on their roster who had produced even league-average offense. Take a look at how Kansas City’s outfielders with at least 10 starts this season had fared coming into play on Sunday:
| Kyle Isbel | 42 | 94 |
| Drew Waters | 37 | 97 |
| Hunter Renfroe (released) | 26 | 37 |
| Jonathan India | 18 | 82 |
| Mark Canha | 16 | 77 |
| MJ Melendez | 12 | -3 |
Moreover, though, the Royals need offensive help wherever they can get it. Kansas City had given 10 batters at least 100 plate appearances heading into Sunday, and just two of those hitters (Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia) had an OPS+ of 100 or better. In unsurprising news, the team sits in fourth place in the AL Central with a 31-29 record, eight games behind the Detroit Tigers (they are, however, only a game out of the wild-card race).
The Royals will have Monday off, meaning Caglianone should be able to join them in time for Tuesday’s contest.