Royals No. 1 Prospect Blasts 468-Foot Home Run, Makes Case For Triple-A Promotion
![Florida utility Jac Caglianone (14) with a home run in the bottom of the tenth against Kentucky, Friday, May 10, 2024, at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators lost 12-11 in extra innings. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2024](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_289,w_4698,h_2642/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/inside_the_royals/01jrdbf382enwy8naa7g.jpg "Florida utility Jac Caglianone (14) with a home run in the bottom of the tenth against Kentucky, Friday, May 10, 2024, at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators lost 12-11 in extra innings. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2024")
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Reigning Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge has the longest home run of the Major League Baseball season so far with a towering 468-foot shot against the Milwaukee Brewers.
If Jac Caglianone had been playing in the big leagues instead of Double-A on Tuesday night, Judge would have to make room on top of the podium.
Caglianone, the Kansas City Royals' number-one prospect and one of the best pure power hitters in all of Minor League Baseball, stepped to the plate in Tuesday night's game against the Frisco RoughRiders and deposited a baseball 468 beyond the fence in right field for a three-run home run.
It was Caglianone's second blast in only four games thus far in Double-A. And if he keeps performing like this, he won't have too many more of them to play.
The home run was Caglianone's longest on record to this point, but the 111-mile-per-hour exit velocity wasn't his personal best this season. His other Double-A home run, which traveled 464 feet on Saturday, had an exit velo of 116 mph.
Everything Caglianone has done since arriving to spring training has suggested that he's going to be ready for the big leagues very soon. The sample has been small enough all along that the Royals had obvious reasons to want to see more, but the 22-year-old has only continued to exceed expectations.
Caglianone went 9-for-18 with three home runs in spring training, and he's now 6-for-16 with two long balls in Double-A. That's a .441 batting average and a home run every 6.8 at-bats, for those keeping score at home.
How much more will Caglianone have to do to earn his Triple-A promotion? If he has another week of batting close to .400 with a home run every other game, will the Royals relent and let him move up the latter?
Kansas City fans, who are desperate to see their team start hitting for power, would love to know.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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