Royals No. 1 Prospect Jac Caglianone Takes Another Step Toward MLB Debut

Kansas City Royals fans couldn't be more excited about Jac Caglianone, and for good reason.

The Royals' number-one prospect and first-round draft pick last summer, Caglianone has the type of raw power that less than one percent of even those talented enough to play professional baseball possess.

Caglianone was called up to Triple-A Omaha on Sunday after a fantastic start to the season in Double-A. Though it's still only been 10 months since he was drafted, many have specualted that a big-league debut could happen this season, and perhaps even as early as July.

The 22-year-old first baseman/outfielder made sure to give the Royals something to think about on Thursday.

One day after notching his first Triple-A hit, Caglianone positively clobbered his first home run with his new team. He hit a 113.6-mile-per-hour, 410-foot laser to right field against former major league pitcher Dakota Hudson of the Salt Lake Bees.

Caglianone is now 4-for-13 in his first three games with Omaha. The home run was his first extra-base hit.

There are clearly more boxes for Caglianone to check before he gets to the majors. The Triple-A level should be a good test of his ability to stick in the outfield, which he played for the first time as a professional earlier this month.

And although it's not as though Caglianone needs to be a Steven Kwan-type contact hitter, he could stand to show that his swing-and-miss and strikeout rates won't balloon at the highest level of the minors.

But the 6-foot-5 offensive juggernaut is checking every box at this point, and the more the Royals' lineup falters, the easier it will be to point to his call-up as a potential solution.

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