Jac Caglianone launches crazy 466-foot home run vs. Pirates

Prior to his second inning home run on Tuesday night, Caglianone was hitting for a lowly .144 average and hadn’t left the yard in nearly three weeks. His first home run came on June 19 against the Texas Rangers in a game in which he actually hit two home runs.

Since that two home run game, the former Gator had been on a 1-for-34 stretch at the plate before his Tuesday home run. He’s now 2-6 in his last six at-bats with two home runs.

It was to the point that general manager JJ Picollo was getting questions about the rookie. On Monday, he said the following, per Mark Poulose of KCTV5:

“I have not talked to him since we left to go on the road, but he’s a human being,” Picollo said. “He’s frustrated, you can see the frustration. But if he wasn’t frustrated, that would mean he doesn’t care. So how do we help him just relax a little bit, let the game come to him?

“Right now I think he’s trying to force the game instead of letting the game come to him. A lot of that comes down to guys pitching him really well and pitching to his weaknesses. When he makes that adjustment and starts hitting some mistakes, he’s going to grow in his confidence as well. But trying to keep an eye on his attitude and his confidence level is as much the challenge as it is the physical part.”

Things may be looking up for Caglianone, who has now homered in back-to-back games. He was selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft and made his Major League debut on June 3, 2025. His batting average is now up to .154 with four doubles, four home runs and seven RBI.

The Kansas City Royals currently sit at 45-48, second in the AL Central behind the Detroit Tigers (59-35). KC is currently 4.0 games back from the AL Wild Card, currently occupied by the New York Yankees (50-41), the Tampa Bay Rays (50-43) and the Seattle Mariners (48-43).

On3’s Thomas Goldkamp contributed to this article.