Quentin Corpuel | Post-Dispatch
This past July, one of college baseball’s crown jewels was on the cusp of possibly becoming a Cardinal in the MLB Draft.
Then, one pick before the Cardinals, their cross-state rivals scooped him up at No. 6 overall.
Jac Caglianone was a Kansas City Royal.
“They (Kansas City’s scouting department) were just so convinced that this guy is going to be a really impactful major league player,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said before Tuesday’s game against the Cardinals.
Later in the evening, Kansas City’s top-ranked prospect made his major-league debut at Busch Stadium, batting sixth and starting at designated hitter; he’d been called up from the Class AAA Omaha Storm Chasers on Tuesday.
Tuesday night proved to be a firework show: the Royals and Cardinals combined for 17 runs and 25 hits, with Kansas City emerging victorious 10-7. After falling behind 7-2 early, eight runs across the fifth and sixth innings helped the Royals to a win in the series-opener.
People are also reading…
McClellan: Why go after Harvard? Yale is the problem.
Hochman: America’s best high school soccer player lives in St. Louis. She’s only 16.
KFNS’s glorious then volatile long run in sports-talk radio ends this weekend: Media Views
Sandwich shop owner on the Hill is recovering after being stabbed at work
Man killed in Florissant house explosion was making fireworks, police say
Top federal prosecutor quits St. Louis post. Trump to appoint replacement
Another day, another comeback: Why Cardinals are ‘on a tear’ is the talk of their dugout
St. Louis sheriff defends firings but backs off threats. Aldermen blast the spending.
99.1 Joy FM wins auction for KDHX with $8.75 million bid, double an early offer
Dylan Holloway on being injured for the playoffs, his rehab and a potential extension in St. Louis
Fake property deed crime on rise, warn officials in St. Charles, St. Louis counties
St. Louis sheriff to mayor: Give me more money, or I’ll stop transporting some inmates
Goold’s chat: Are Cardinals at a crossroads with catchers, trade options, and Nolan Gorman?
Uber driver shot in face in Metro East is hockey coach, lauded for heroism
Raised, glazed and amazed: St. Louis’ most essential doughnut shops
But Caglianone, despite all of the juice he’s had in his bat for years, wasn’t a part of the onslaught — on paper, at least. The rookie went 0-of-4, but he didn’t go out quietly each time. His first at-bat, which came in the top of the second, featured him hitting a curveball low and away into deep right center field. But Victor Scott II made a running catch at the warning track to rob Caglianone of his first career major-league hit.
Caglianone would ground out in each of his next three at-bats. Even so, two of those groundouts registered at 113.9 mph and 112.1 mph according to Statcast. Those were two of the hardest-hit balls of the night.
The first groundout was to Nolan Arenado at third, who snared the howitzer moving to his left and then made a perfect cross-body throw to Willson Contreras at first base for the out.
“Anything you hit to Arenado is not really a great idea,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said after the game.
While Caglianone’s performance didn’t rock the baseball-verse, that didn’t erase the amount of hype surrounding the former Florida Gator’s debut, which could’ve overflowed a swamp.
The giant lefty, who’d torn up the minor leagues in recent months, had the Royal fans in attendance buzzing with one-time kind of excitement.
“He’ll never forget this day,” Quatraro said before the game. “And quite frankly, in all my time here, I haven’t seen a lot of days like this.”
The anticipation was layered. It wasn’t just the monster bat that generated excitement: He joined a Royals offense desperate for any remnant of firepower. Entering Tuesday, they were tied with the 22-38 Pirates for the second-fewest runs in the league (194); only the lowly Rockies had fewer, and it wasn’t by much (190).
Elsewhere, Kansas City ranked No. 30 in home runs (34) and No. 25 in both slugging percentage and OPS. The Royals’ outfielders had combined for just five home runs. Caglianone had one more by himself in just 12 games with Triple-A Omaha.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Royals made deep playoff runs in spite of offenses lacking traditional power. The 2015 squad that won the World Series finished No. 24 in regular season home runs. The year before, when they reached the World Series before losing to San Francisco, Kansas City was dead last with 90 home runs after the first 162 games.
But the quiet bats have been a big reason why the Royals are just barely above .500. Caglianone was coming to the rescue. However, the onus falling solely on him to revive the Royals on offense didn’t seem just within the visiting clubhouse.
“He’s not a savior of this offense, nor should he think he is, nor should anybody think he is, because that’s super unfair,” Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said. “That’s, like, the most unfair thing you can do to somebody.”
That sentiment was shared by Picollo.
“We’ve got to be patient,” Picollo said. “There’s going to be some great nights, and there’s going to be some tough nights. But this is a collective effort by a total offense, not just one guy.”
Despite Tuesday being one of Caglianone’s tougher nights, there were even more positive signs of development. Out of the nine pitches Caglianone faced on Tuesday, he was thrown one obvious ball, which he took to even up the count at 1-1 in the top of the second.
That’s an especially big deal considering how, leading up to the 2024 draft and throughout his short minor-league development, his tendency to swing on pitches outside of the strike zone was highlighted as a major problem area.
But that didn’t seem to be at the top of Quatraro’s mind.
“He looked poised,” he said. “There’ll be plenty of hits for him.”
Even as Caglianone went hitless on Tuesday night, he still represented a classic “what-if” for the Cardinals.
It’s not like the Cardinals passed on Caglianone for JJ Wetherholt. But as Wetherholt remains in Class AA with the Springfield Cardinals, it’s fair to wonder what an alternate reality with Caglianone would look like for St. Louis.
In fairness to Wetherholt, he’s been a stellar performer in the minors so far. Plus, Caglianone made it to The Show faster than most. He became the first Royal to get called up to the majors within a year of getting drafted since Bo Jackson in 1986.
As the popular saying goes, comparison is the thief of joy. Despite Caglianone’s quick ascent to the majors, he still has a lot of career ahead of him. He’s still finding his sea legs in right field, where he played a good bit in the minors. It’s a similar path that Jordan Walker has taken with the Cardinals.
Walker experienced major bumps in the road. It’s not far-fetched to think that Caglianone will experience his fair share of obstacles, too. But the Royals seem focused on the big picture.
“What we didn’t know is, how long does it take?” Picollo said. “You never know how long that’s going to take. If it took one year or two years, as long as he becomes a good major league player, we’d be fine with it. So there was no real need coming into this year to see him up in ’25, but he went out and did what you want players to do. He went out and played exceptionally well and earned his way up here.”
On Wednesday, Caglianone will have a chance to take the field at Busch Stadium once again.
Perhaps the second go-around leaves the Cardinals faithful asking “what if?”
“Heck yeah,” Caglianone said when asked if he’s ready to play another game. “I’m chilling now.”
Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter
Sent weekly directly to your inbox!