Swampcast breaks down Florida softball at WCWS, Florida basketball
The Sun’s Kevin Brockway and Noah Ram and Kevin Brockway are joined by Nathan Geise of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal to break down Florida softball, Texas Tech in WCWS.
Jac Caglianone, a former two-way standout for the Florida Gators, is expected to be called up to the MLB by the Kansas City Royals.Caglianone was the sixth overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft and has impressed in the minor leagues, hitting .322 with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs.Known as the “Shohei Ohtani of college baseball,” Caglianone holds multiple Florida Gators batting records.He joins a growing list of former Gators currently playing in MLB.
After helping lead Florida baseball to back-to-back College World Series trips, Jac Caglianone is set for his big league shot.
The Kansas City Royals are set to call up the 22-year-old Caglianone on June 2, according to multiple reports, less than a year after the end of his college career.
The Royals picked Caglianone sixth overall in last July’s MLB Draft, and he’s risen quickly through the organization. He’s hit .322/.389/.593 with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs in 50 games between AA and AAA, and recently crushed a 459-foot homer at Triple-A Omaha that came off the bat at 108.6 miles per hour.
Caglianone was a former two-way standout with the Florida Gators who was billed as the “Shohei Ohtani of college baseball” entering his junior season at UF. But it became more and more clear during Caglianone’s junior year that his future would be at the plate. At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds with a long, looping, left-handed swing, Caglianone batted .323 with 33 home runs and 90 RBIs in 2023, then followed that up in 2024 by batting .419 with 35 home runs and 72 RBIs. Caglianone holds UF records for single-season home runs (35), career home runs (75) and single-season RBIs (90).
When Caglianone makes his debut with the Royals, he will join a long list of former Gators in MLB, which includes Texas Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford, New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brady Singer, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Alex Faedo and fellow Royals infielder Jonathan India.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com