How Soon Will Royals No. 1 Prospect Jac Caglianone Be Promoted After Massive Weekend?

The Kansas City Royals' number-one prospect was the most exciting storyline of spring training, and that trend continued over opening weekend across Minor League Baseball.

The Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals opened their season with three games against the Tulsa Drillers this weekend, and first baseman Jac Caglianone was all over the stat sheet. The 6-foot-5 lefty slugger went 5-for-13 with a home run, a double, and seven RBI.

To state the obvious, one good series doesn't mean a player is suddenly ready to make his major league debut. But Caglianone looked phenomenal in spring training as well, going 9-for-18 with three homers, and in general, the consensus seems to be that he'll be a fast riser.

So just three games into his Double-A career, we're left with an obvious question: How soon will the Royals call up the 22-year-old Caglianone to join the major league roster?

The organization won't tell us those plans, but there should be some obvious markers to look for. The most obvious of these is whether Caglianone starts getting reps in the outfield, as first base is currently occupied by Vinnie Pasquantino at the big-league level.

Kansas City will likely want to get Caglianone at least a few reps at Triple-A as well before calling him up to the show. There are always a handful of players with recent big-league experience on a Triple-A roster, and the Royals will want Caglianone to face some of those pitchers while learning from some of the veterans on his own team.

But let's face facts. The 4-5 Royals still have a gaping hole in the outfield corners, and in the middle of their order as well. Caglianone projects to be a 35-40 homer bat for them for many years to come, and they'd love to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

The prediction here is that Caglianone will get another couple weeks at least in Double-A, and then another few to work through Triple-A. If all goes well, the last week of May seems like the earliest time we can reasonably expect the youngster to graduate to the big leagues.

But as always, the Royals have the only vote that matters here, so there can be no telling for certain when the move might occur.

More MLB: Blue Jays Could Be Royals' Blockbuster Trade Partners After $500 Million Extension