Royals' Jac Caglianone Gives Candid Assessment Of 0-for-5 MLB Debut

Kansas City Royals star Jac Caglianone had to set a record on Tuesday night: most hard-hit balls in a major league debut without being rewarded with a hit.

Caglianone smoked his very first big-league batted ball, but St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott tracked it down with a fabulous leaping grab in the right-center field gap. He then proceeded to hit two balls over 110 miles per hour, but both were groundouts.

Though Caglianone went 0-for-5, his presence had an obvious impact on the rest of the Kansas City lineup. The Royals wound up scoring eight unanswered runs, erasing a five-run deficit in a much-needed 10-8 win.

Caglianone will get his hits soon. But he has his debut under his belt now, and though the results didn't go his way, the Royals have to be excited about the way he's going about the process.

“Going up for my first at-bat, I felt really comfortable,” Caglianone said, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. “(Andre Pallante) threw some good pitches. No cigar. Victor Scott’s pretty good out there. But I felt really good.”

The 22-year-old Caglianone only had 79 games in the minors before being thrown into the deep end. He's the most highly anticipated rookie the Royals have had since Bobby Witt Jr., and there's an argument to be made that he's facing more pressure, given that the Royals are now a team with playoff aspirations.

But it doesn't seem like the pressure is bothering the youngster, which should be music to Royals fans' ears.

“Kind of drown it out,” Caglianone said, per Rogers. That stress is unnecessary. Unwarranted, for me. I don’t play too much into that.”

Caglianone, who was the Royals' designated hitter and batted sixth on Tuesday night, should get his next shot at that first big-league hit on Wednesday. The Cardinals will send veteran Miles Mikolas to the mound for a 7:45 p.m. EST first pitch.

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