Scouting Report

Video scouting report »

Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 70 | Run: 40 | Arm: 60 | Field: 55 | Overall: 65

Scouting grades: Fastball: 70 | Slider: 50 | Cutter: 50 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 40 | Overall: 50

While calling him the “next Shohei Ohtani” might be unfair, Caglianone is the best two-way player in the nation, an easy early choice for the John Olerud Award given to college baseball’s best hitter/pitcher. He has some standout tools both on the mound and at the plate, though big steps forward as a hitter this spring have led most scouts to prefer his left-handed bat over his left-handed arm. 

A 6-foot-5 physical beast, Caglianone has top of the class left-handed raw power, and he gets to it, as evidenced by his Division I-leading 33 home runs in 2023. He’s very aggressive in the box and there was concern about his tendency to chase pitches out of the zone (44 percent chase rate last year), but he doesn’t strike out a lot and makes a lot of hard contact. He’s cut his miss and chase rates in 2024 and has a miniscule strikeout rate this spring. He’s solid defensively at first base as well. 

The Tommy John surgery survivor struggled to find the strike zone in his first collegiate pitching action last year, but a more compact delivery was helping him stay around the zone more, even if his walk rate still remained high. He touches triple digits with his fastball and he introduced a 90-mph cutter that he featured more than his slider this fall to go along with a solid changeup. He might be a top-of-the-first-round bat, with some seeing him more as a second-rounder on the mound.

Video scouting report »

Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 70 | Run: 40 | Arm: 60 | Field: 55 | Overall: 60

Scouting grades: Fastball: 65 | Slider: 50 | Cutter: 50 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 40

While calling him the “next Shohei Ohtani” might be unfair, Caglianone was the best two-way player in the nation at Florida, as confirmed by his win of the 2024 John Olerud Award given to college baseball’s best hitter/pitcher. He has some standout tools both on the mound and at the plate, though big steps forward as a hitter this spring led most scouts to prefer his left-handed bat over his left-handed arm. The Royals were glad to select him sixth overall in the Draft and announced they remain open to Caglianone’s two-way status, at least to begin his career. The 21-year-old signed for $7.5 million.

A 6-foot-5 physical beast, Caglianone has top of the class left-handed raw power, and he gets to it, as evidenced by his 68 home runs over his final two seasons on campus. He’s very aggressive in the box and there was concern about his tendency to chase pitches out of the zone (44 percent chase rate last year), but he doesn’t strike out a lot and makes a lot of hard contact. He cut his miss and chase rates in 2024 and had a miniscule strikeout rate this spring. He’s solid defensively at first base as well.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery just before heading to college, Caglianone struggled to find the strike zone in his first collegiate pitching action last year, but a more compact delivery was helping him stay around the zone more this spring, even if his walk rate still remained high. He touches triple digits with his fastball, and he introduced a 90 mph cutter that he featured more than his slider last fall to go along with a solid changeup.

Video scouting report »

Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Curveball: 55 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 45 | Overall: 40

Over the past several years, Plant High School in Tampa, Fla., has produced some excellent Draft talent, most notably first-rounders Connor Scott in 2018 (Marlins) and Kyle Tucker in 2015 (Astros). It seemed certain that Caglianone, who was once a two-way player as a power-hitting first baseman and pitcher, will have a future on the mound at the next level, though the need for Tommy John surgery in June clouded that outlook.

When healthy, Caglianone is more about size -- he’s 6-foot-5 -- and arm strength. The left-hander is up to the mid 90s with his fastball, touching as high as 97 mph last fall. He backs it up with a curveball that can be slurvy but has some good late three-quarter break with life and depth to it. He’s working on a changeup with some fade, but it can be a bit firm. He’s worked on a cutter, but that took away from his breaking ball.

The two things Caglianone will have to work on after he gets back from elbow surgery are his command -- it’s spotty right now -- and developing a pitch that's a little softer, because everything he has right now is power. Still, there might be enough ingredients for the Florida recruit to start, with the knowledge that the fastball-slurve combination from the lefty side could be nasty out of the bullpen.

Transactions

Team	Date	Transaction
	11/08/2024	American League Fall Stars activated 1B Jac Caglianone.
	09/25/2024	Surprise Saguaros activated 1B Jac Caglianone.
	08/05/2024	TWP Jac Caglianone assigned to Quad Cities River Bandits.
	07/23/2024	Kansas City Royals signed TWP Jac Caglianone.
	06/16/2024	College Workout activated LHP Jac Caglianone.
	06/29/2023	College Workout activated LHP Jac Caglianone.
	06/26/2023	LHP Jac Caglianone assigned to USAB Stars Team.
	06/04/2021	High School Workout activated LHP Jac Caglianone.
	06/15/2020	LHP Jac Caglianone and assigned to PG National 2 - Cardinal.