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Watch: Jac Caglianone hits 1st MLB homer

On3 imageby: Keith Niebuhr06/19/25On3Keith
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 took 14 games, but Florida Gators great Jac Caglianone has hit his first Major League homer. It came Thursday afternoon, when Caglianone launched a pitch from Jacob Latz of Texas 387 feet over the right field wall in his first at-bat of the game. He later added another solo homer in the ninth.

Caglianone, who played his first MLB game on June 3, had gone his first 51 at-bats for Kansas City without a homer after combining for 15 home runs in Double-A and Triple-A this year before getting called up to the bigs. Caglianone entered Thursday’s game hitting .196.

He was the sixth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. 

Caglianone got to the majors quickly thanks to his hot hitting in the minors this year. He was called up to Triple-A just five 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.”

It didn’t take long for 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 June 8. 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.

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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