A Kansas City Royals Blog

Potential still there for Caglianone; a look at the WBC

By Adam Gardner / March 9, 2026

The 2025 season was a mixed bag for Jac Caglianone. Playing his age 22 season, and just his first full professional season after being a star for the University of Florida, Caglianone was white hot in the minor leagues.

He hit 20 home runs and slugged .617 across 66 games for Double A Northwest Arkansas and Triple A Omaha. Caglianone did this while 2 years younger than average for Double A and 4.4 years younger than average for Triple A. He proved himself against minor league pitchers and I have no problem with the Royals calling him up.

But Caglianone struggled in the major leagues, hitting .157 with a .295 slugging percentage and 7 home runs in 62 games. The good news is he still walked 18 times, making his on-base percentage 80 points higher than his batting average.

It’s perfectly common for highly-touted prospects to struggle the first time they hit the majors. We don’t even have to look outside the Kansas City franchise for examples.

Hall of Famer George Brett was abysmal when he was first called up at the end of the 1973 season and wasn’t much better the first half of the 1974 season. Brett rebounded in the second half of his rookie season.

Want a more contemporary example? Bobby Witt Jr. finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2022, but that’s thanks to solid June, July and September. Yes, he also hit 6 home runs in May that year, his most of any month, but the point remains that it took time for Witt to get warmed up to major league pitching.

Caglianone isn’t Witt – he’s athletic but not in the same vein as Witt, he isn’t expected to hit for as high an average as Witt, but he has the potential to hit more home runs.

Yes, Caglianone’s rookie season didn’t turn out like anyone hoped, but there is reason to hope for a rebound in his sophomore season. Remember, he hasn’t even played a half season of major league baseball.

Exit Velocity

One of the big talking points with Caglianone is how hard he hits a baseball. There has always been talk about how the crack of the bat just sounds different for certain players, but since Statcast was introduced in every MLB ballpark in 2015 we can quantify who really is hitting the ball hardest.

Caglianone can crush baseballs. Against the Diamondbacks a little over a week ago, Cags hit a ball 120.2 mph. It’s not surprising since he’s listed at 6’4” and 250 pounds and clearly doesn’t miss a workout. He uses that size to generate a lot of bat speed, as you might expect.

Eno Sarris of The Athletic pointed out that Caglianone’s average bat speed is 77.4 mph, which puts him ahead of such sluggers as Kyle Schwarber, Aaron Judge and Nick Kurtz. Sarris also correctly points out that Caglianone’s swing was a bit flat in 2025 which led to too many ground balls. Hitting the ball hard can lead to great things, but not so much if it’s gobbled up by the second baseman.

I’m still encouraged, though. I don’t just want Cags to become a serious power threat, but the potential is clearly there. He swatted 75 home runs at Florida; I’m assuming his swing wasn’t too flat on those 75 swings.

It’s not just swing path, of course, but the pitches Cags is going after. Remember, even though he hit just .157 last season, his OBP was .237. He showed some signs of selectiveness and if he continues to hone pitch selection while also getting the ball in the air, he can make magic happen.

What can we expect this season?

Sarris gives Junior Caminero as a comparison to what Caglianone can do. Caminero is a star for the Tampa Bay Rays and is similar in age to Cags, turning 23 on July 5.

It would be amazing for Cags to turn in a season like Caminero’s 2025: 45 home runs and 4.4 WAR. Nothing is guaranteed, but if Caglianone can even approach numbers like that, October baseball becomes realistic for the Royals.

World Baseball Classic

If the Winter Olympics weren’t enough to whet your nation vs nation appetite, the World Baseball Classic is here.

Pool play began last week in Tokyo with Pool C and the quarterfinals are scheduled to begin Friday, March 13. Two teams per pool advance to quarterfinal action. These are the four groups and the location for their pool play games.

Pool A (San Juan): Canada / Colombia / Cuba / Panama / Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is a strong contender in this group, even if they don’t appear to have as strong a roster this cycle as they have had in the past. They’re missing Francisco Lindor, but they will have home field advantage, and I like that extra boost of passion their players will feel.

The second qualifier could come down to Canada or Colombia. Michael Clair at www.mlb.com went so far as to predict Canada to win the group, which would be their first time advancing out of pool play.

Pool B (Houston): Brazil / Great Britain / Italy / Mexico / United States

Something will need to go terribly wrong for the United States to not win this group. The starting pitchers the USA has lined up are the best in their history, even if guys like Tarik Skubal only pitch a few innings.

Italy and Mexico will have to battle it out for the second spot from this group and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pulling for Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone.

Pool C (Tokyo): Australia / Chinese Taipei / Czechia / Japan / Korea

Japan is the defending WBC Champions so it would be a shock if they failed to advance to the qualifiers. Shohei Ohtani isn’t pitching (which means the United States doesn’t need to worry about stepping to the plate against him in the 9th inning of the championship game again), but they still have a deep roster.

Korea has a solid baseball tradition, but Chinese Taipei has beaten Japan recently. This could be a fun battle for the second quarterfinal spot out of this pool. Don’t sleep on Australia, which was able to knock off Chinese Taipei in WBC opening game.

Pool D (Miami): Dominican Republic / Israel / Netherlands / Nicaragua / Venezuela

The Dominican Republic and Venezuela are the heavy favorites out of the final group and either country could make a run to the championship.

The Netherlands has some familiar MLB names on the roster and will show some fight, but I don’t think they have enough to hang with this group’s two big dogs.

Tournament

Single-game elimination is especially cruel in baseball. So much of it will depend on who is healthy and how much the pitchers are “in form.”

I’m excited to see how it all shakes out and I hope we’re treated to more magical moments in this year’s WBC. The United States was involved in two of those in 2023: Trea Turner’s 8th inning grand slam to push the USA past Venezuela in the semifinals, then Ohtani conquering then-Angels teammate Mike Trout to give Japan the championship.

I don’t know who will win it all, but I know it’s a great way to get primed up for the MLB season. Now, please, can everyone stay healthy?

Royals in the WBC

The Royals are going to be well represented across several countries. These are the boys in blue who will wear their countries’ colors in the WBC:

For a full list of MLB players competing in the WBC, click here. You can find the schedule, standings and more here. (A quick note: due to traveling March 6-9, this post was written on March 5 prior to several WBC games being played, then scheduled to publish on March 9.)

I’ve mentioned health a couple times already but that is the biggest fear in these sorts of events. Players can and do get hurt during Spring Training every year, but the WBC games are played at a higher intensity than your typical Cactus or Grapefruit league game.

Hitters and pitchers are going to feel competitive juices flowing and that can lead to extra exertion. I won’t even mention specific players I’m most worried about just for fear of putting that bad mojo out into the universe.

May the injuries be minor and few for all involved.

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