'Great year of baseball' for Caglianone includes stamp of approval from Witt Jr.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- When the Royals selected Jac Caglianone with the sixth overall pick in July, fans and the front office alike saw the vision: a power-hitting middle-of-the-order bat with prolific collegiate slugging exploits teaming with Bobby Witt Jr. at the heart of the lineup for years to come.

Those weren’t the only interested parties who shared that thought process -- Witt did too.

“He was the first person to reach out to me, which was a really cool feeling,” Caglianone said of Witt after he was drafted this summer. “It just kind of shows who he is as a person.

“He said congrats, he's looking forward to meeting me and he's happy to have me. The feeling’s definitely mutual. I mean, you got the best player in baseball saying that to you, it's pretty cool.”

Caglianone described sharing a lineup with Witt Jr. and Co. in the near future as “surreal.” Just how far off could that be? MLB Pipeline gives the top-ranked first-base prospect in the game one more full year in the Minors before projecting a 2026 arrival. But Caglianone will tell you he’s brimming with confidence after a whirlwind season.

“I wanna say I'm ready to be honest with you,” Caglianone said, “but I don't want to jump the gun or get anybody upset.”

The 21-year-old wrapped up a whirlwind nine months last Saturday when he collected three hits for the Surprise Saguaros during the Arizona Fall League Championship Game. The highest-ranked prospect in attendance in the desert (No. 17 overall), Caglianone finished his stint with a .236/.300/.449 slash line with 21 hits and 21 RBIs across 21 regular-season games. His five homers led Surprise (home to the Royals’ complex) and he recorded a 117.3 mph single on Oct. 31, the second-hardest hit ball recorded during the fall campaign.

His final game of 2024 came exactly nine months after his first official one -- Feb. 16 for the Florida Gators. In that span, Caglianone became the first player in SEC history to deliver multiple 30-homer seasons, broke his program’s all-time home run mark and went deep in nine consecutive games, tying the Division I record.

“We’ve definitely seen the power on display,” Royals director of player development Mitch Maier told MLB.com. “He’s driving the ball to all fields with that authority, and you just don’t see that every day. That makes us really excited. He’s a special talent.”

Toss in the rigors of playing in the College World Series, preparing for the Draft with workouts and interviews, making his pro debut with High-A Quad Cities and then adding six weeks of Fall League ball on top of all of that, Caglianone had to be just plum exhausted, right?

“I'm honestly feeling great,” Caglianone said in an MLB Network interview during the AFL title game. “To kind of go [through] the whole Draft deal and go out to Quad Cities and meet a bunch of new people and to have the opportunity to be out here in the Fall League and meet such a great group of guys, it's been awesome. It's been a great year of baseball.”

The top Royals prospect added one more notch in the final act. While Surprise came up short in its quest for a Fall League three-peat, Caglianone is taking some bragging rights into the offseason.

In the fifth inning Saturday, Caglianone got the better of former Florida teammate Philip Abner (D-backs) in their first showdown as pros. After swinging through an elevated fastball on the first pitch, the left-handed-hitting first baseman roped a base hit back up the middle off the southpaw.

“We were texting the night before and he was like, ‘Hey, I didn't throw against Scottsdale, so I'm gonna be in there tomorrow,’” Caglianone said of Abner. “He's come in twice against us throughout the season and I didn't have the opportunity to face him, so I'm glad I finally could. I had to tell one of the videography people here to make sure they get a video or something just so [we have] a little keepsake.”

Caglianone’s time in the Fall League was spent entirely as a position player, getting additional reps at first base. But come 2025, he’s expected to return to the mound, where he possesses a 65-grade fastball per MLB Pipeline. The Shohei Ohtani comparisons are inevitable -- even if immensely too high of an expectation -- but it’s been something that Caglianone has been comfortable addressing.

Yes, he’s able to both pitch and hit with significant success. But he’s also just glad to be having fun on the ride, both on and off the field.

Jac Caglianone, also an 80-grade underwater basket weaver. The more you know! pic.twitter.com/Njm2tW65fb

— Jesse Borek (@JesseABorek) November 14, 2024

“Yeah, I mean, I'm looking forward to the future. I'm not sure what it holds,” Caglianone said of his two-way status. “But I'll do whatever they tell me to do at the end of the day. Everybody's just trying to make it to the league and stay there. So that's what I'm willing to do and I just want to win for Kansas City.”