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Jac Caglianone ties Bo Jackson to make Royals history

On3 imageby: Keith Niebuhr06/08/25On3Keith
MLB: Game One-Kansas City Royals at St. Louis Cardinals
Jun 5, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals right fielder Jac Caglianone (14) reacts after hitting a one run double against the St. Louis Cardinals for his first Major League hit during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

It didn’t take long for Florida Gators great Jac Caglianone to share a piece of Kansas City Royals history with American sports icon Bo Jackson. In his sixth MLB game, Caglianone went 4-for-4 at the plate in a 7-5 Royals win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. Until then, Jackson had been the only player in Royals history to post a four-hit game within their first six games in the majors.

Jackson went 4-for-5 with four singles against the Seattle Mariners on Sept. 11, 1986. That was his fifth game with the Royals. At the time, Jackson was becoming at transcendent American sports figure due to the fact he played both Major League Baseball and NFL football as a running back. He won the Heisman Trophy while at Auburn the previous year.

Caglione was the sixth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. He made his MLB debut last Tuesday, but was only 2 for 21 before Sunday while splitting time between right field and DH. But against the White Sox, he recorded a double and three singles.

Jac Caglianone had been hitting the ball hard

“Jac’s had 20 at-bats, and he’s squared a bunch of balls up in those 20,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro told reporters after the game. “Today he got rewarded for it.”

Per the Associated Press, “Caglianone lined a single to center in the first inning. He doubled in the fourth, recording a 113.6 mph exit velocity on his drive into the gap in right-center. He singled again in the sixth and in the eighth.”

Caglianone got to the majors quickly thanks to his hot hitting in the minors this year. He was called up to Triple-A just three weeks ago 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, the 22-year-old 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, 22, actually got off to a slow start last year just after being drafted. He batted just .241 in 29 games for High-A Quad Cities and then .236 in 21 games in the Arizona Fall League. He was ranked No. 29 on the preseason top 100 MLB prospects list by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.

In Gainesville, he put up legendary numbers.

Caglianone 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. Condon who was drafted No. 3 overall by Colorado.

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