Written By: Ryan Patota

Image Courtesy Mallory Peak and University of Florida Athletics

With the promise of young prospects like Paul Skenes and Jackson Holiday starting their MLB careers on high notes as they both have now graduated from the prospect pool, it is now time to take a look at who could make the leap this upcoming season. 

Jac Caglianone, the 6′ 5′, 250‑pound left-hander turned heads coming into the draft with his prodigious power at the plate and a fastball that he commands up to 100 mph. With the University of Florida, Caglianone began his collegiate career as a designated hitter and did not pitch during his freshman year. He was recovering from a torn ulnar collateral ligament that he suffered in high school and it required Tommy John surgery. 

Coming out of the surgery on the hitting side, Caglianone batted .288 with seven homers. His sophomore season is when Caglianone returned to the mound and took on the role of a starting first baseman. He established himself as a cornerstone of the program, leading the nation with 33 home runs. In his junior season, he hit 35 to break the program’s career home run record. 

That same season, he tied the NCAA DI record with home runs in nine consecutive games, including one that traveled 516 feet, the furthest in the statcast era. He demonstrated consistency and the ability to produce in high-pressure situations to put on quite a showing for MLB Scouts. 

Other than being able to produce using the power of his bat, Caglianone can pitch effectively, returning to the mound to post a 4.34 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 18 appearances. His junior season on the mound was just as dominant with a 4.76 ERA with 83 Ks in 16 appearances, holding opponents’ batting average to a career average of .208 and totaled 148.1 innings pitched in his career as a Florida Gator.

In arguably his best start as a Gator where Caglianone posted a seven-inning performance allowing only one earned run to the #5 ranked LSU Tigers in his senior year, Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan loved how Caglianone kept his composure against a top ranked opponent.

“I think that’s one of the biggest changes he’s made from last year,” O’Sullivan commented on March 24th after the 12-2 victory. “He kept his composure, made his pitches.I can’t say enough about how he’s been pitching the entire year.”

Caglianone was drafted in 2024 by the Royals sixth overall and began his professional career with the Quad Cities River Bandits in the High-A Midwest League. The expectation from the Royals organization is for him to continue playing at the minor league level to begin the season and work his way into development. Caglianone put some work in during the offseason as he played in the Arizona Fall League to further his development where he hit five homers with 21 RBI in 21 games. 

As the 2025 season approaches, the Royals invited Jac Caglianone to Spring Training. The Royals have not invited a first-round draft pick to spring training since Alex Gordon in 2006. Gordon turned out to be a superstar for Kansas City, so it will be interesting to see how this impacts Caglianone in his career. 

The Royals view him more as a hitter than a pitcher, and he has already showed off his power by hitting a 435-foot home run this spring against the White Sox with an exit velocity of 115.4 mph. Royals Hitting Coach Alec Zumwakt called Caglianone “a gifted human” as the team views him a highly talented prospect. The #22 ranked prospect is looking to continue his development this season, working his way up toward his big league debut.