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Royals Facing Decision on Top Prospect After Historic Win

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Zach Kaplan | Last updated May 10, 2025 5:29 PM ET

With the Royals' 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox in 12 innings Friday, they improved to 16-2 over their last 18 games, a feat not seen for the franchise since 1978.

Even further, Royals starters have three consecutive outings of seven shutout innings, something they haven't done since June 21-23, 1989.

Down on the farm, things are looking pretty great for No. 1 prospect Jac Caglianone, who smashed his ninth home run of the season Friday and turned heads once again.

Jac Caglianone continues to demolish the ball for the Double-A @nwanaturals!

The @Royals' top-ranked prospect ups his 2025 slash line to .328/.403/.605 on the back of his 9th homer of the year. pic.twitter.com/UCVajc9phk
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 10, 2025

Caglianone, the sixth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, has shot up prospect boards, becoming the 18th overall prospect in baseball.

Former MLB executive Jim Bowden noted on X (formerly Twitter) that many opposing MLB scouts feel Caglianone is already big-league ready.

The only thing seemingly stopping Caglianone from being called up at the same meteoric pace as fellow draftee Nick Kurtz (Oakland, 4th overall) is that first base isn't Kansas City's biggest need.

However, Vinnie Pasquantino is performing well below his career averages in 2025, with a .646 OPS and .267 OBP that falls below his career .762 OPS and .326 OBP, both of which are roughly league average.

Pasquantino's strikeout percentage has gone up to 18.8% in 2025 from 12.8% in 2024, which at the time was in the 96th percentile.

With the Royals riding high, they might not be unwise to give Caglianone a taste of the big leagues, as he's going to get there ahead of schedule regardless.

Whether it's a September call-up, or they decide to take a chance on him early in the season while he has the hot hand, remains to be seen.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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