Skip to main content
Join Now

Former Florida slugger Jac Caglianone blasts first Major League home run

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp06/19/25
CaglianoneJac_250605_001_CurryJeff_USAT
Photo by Jeff Curry / USA TODAY Sports

Jac Caglianone has done it. It took 14 games, but the former Florida slugger finally has his first Major League Baseball home run.

He wasted little time getting it, too. In his first at-bat in the top of the second inning on Thursday in a game against the Texas Rangers, Caglianone teed up a 2-2 pitch and took it to deep right center field for a home run. It came off the bat at 106.5 miles per hour and traveled 387 feet.

The pitch Caglianone hit was neck high. Impressively, it was the second-highest pitch that any player has homered from this year, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.

It had been a long time coming; Caglianone had made good contact since arriving in the majors, but he hadn’t quite settled in. Until Thursday. Check out the bomb below.

Following his home run trot, Jac Caglianone was met in the dugout by his teammates … who turned their backs on him and gave him the silent treatment. After a brief minute or two, they broke the pose and congratulated the rookie. His shot had given the Kansas City Royals an early 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning.

For Caglianone, the shot was just a matter of time. In fact, he very nearly homered on the first at-bat of his big-league career. Instead, he was robbed by an outstanding defensive play in center field a little short of the track.

And while there had been individual moments for Caglianone over the last few weeks, he hadn’t had that signature one just yet.

As of Thursday’s game against the Rangers, Jac Caglianone had played in 14 games and racked up 52 at-bats. He had only 11 hits for a .212 batting average. Two of those hits had gone for doubles. And then the one home run, of course.

There have been signs, though. In his sixth game in the majors, a game against the Chicago White Sox, Caglianone burst onto the scene in a major way. He went 4-for-4 at the plate. What’s crazier is what that feat meant.

Caglianone became only the second Kansas City player to post a four-hit contest in his first six MLB games. The other? Bo Jackson did it on Sept. 11, 1986. That’s quite the lofty company to be keeping.

Given his shot on Thursday, you can bet Jac Caglianone is only just starting to get warmed up in the majors. And that’s a scary prospect for opposing hitters.