Jac Caglianone lands on IL with hamstring injury

The rookie season of Florida Gators great Jac Caglianone has been put on pause. The Kansas City Royals on Saturday placed Caglianone, primarily now an outfielder, on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain.

Wrote CBSsports: “Caglianone was pulled after two innings in the first game of Saturday’s twin bill versus Cleveland after hurting his hamstring while running to first base. He went 0-for-1 in the contest and is batting .190 (4-for-21) since the All-Star break. It’s not yet clear how much time Caglianone will need to miss, but while he’s out, Randal Grichuk — who Kansas City acquired in a trade with Arizona on Saturday — could take most of the starts in right field.”

Caglianone, who played his first MLB game on June 3, has struggled at the plate since being called up to the majors. In 41 games played, he is hitting .147 with 5 homers and 10 RBI.

He had been on fire in the minors. Caglianone was called up to Triple-A after tearing it up this season for the Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals. For that team, he was hitting .322/.394/.553 with nine homers and 17 extra-base hits. In Triple-A, he kept on hitting. Per Jeff Passan of ESPN, “In his first full professional season, Caglianone has crushed pitching at Double-A and Triple-A, combining for 15 home runs and 56 RBIs across 50 games while hitting .322/.389/.593.”

Caglianone, still just 22 years old, was selected by the Royals with the sixth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft after a stellar career at Florida. He belted 68 home runs during his final two seasons with the Gators while playing first base and pitching. That included 35 homers as a junior in 2024, which trailed only the 37 from Georgia’s Charlie Condon.

His 75 homers are the most ever by a Gator.