Royals Rookie Jac Caglianone Smashes First MLB Home Run

Top Kansas City Royals prospect Jac Caglianone is off to a slow start in his MLB career. But Thursday produced a moment the 22-year-old will never forget.

In the top of the second inning versus the Texas Rangers, Caglianone hit his first career big league home run.

LumberJAC 💥

Jac Caglianone cracks his first Major League home run 🔥 pic.twitter.com/rmvF7B9E5y
— MLB (@MLB) June 19, 2025

Fantasy managers have been waiting for Caglianone to showcase his power at the Major League level. Before Thursday's game, the Royals rookie was slashing .196/.212/.235 with two extra-base hits, both of which were doubles.

At Triple-A and Double-A this season, Caglianone hit 15 home runs in 199 at-bats. He batted .322 with a .593 slugging percentage at both levels combined. At Triple-A, Caglianone registered a 1.094 OPS in 12 games.

The right fielder received the call to the MLB in early June and made his Major League debut versus the St. Louis Cardinals on June 3.

Caglianone went 4-for-4 with a double on June 8 against the Chicago White Sox. But outside of that performance, he was 6-for-48 (.125) with the Royals this season before Thursday.

Hopefully the homer, though, is a sign of great things to come soon for Caglianone, who was a first-round pick for Kansas City just last year.

He cruised through the Royals minor league system to make his MLB debut less than a year after being in the College Baseball World Series.

"Kansas City bumped Caglianone to AAA on May 20th. Six games later, he already had nine hits over 26 at-bats with five runs, five home runs, and 10 RBI, putting him on the fast track to the majors," SI on Fantasy Sports' Shawn Childs wrote. "Over his following six starts, his bat fell into the steady category (6-for-21 with four runs, one home run, and three RBI) while gaining more experience in the outfield (14 games this season).

"His approach (five walks and nine strikeouts) stayed intact, a hopeful hint that Caglianone won’t have a long learning curve in the majors."

While the learning curve at the MLB level has been a little long, again, maybe the home run will get Caglianone going.

In three years with the Florida Gators during his college career, Caglianone slashed .355/.447/.760 with 75 home runs in 165 games. Last season with the Gators, he hit .419 with an incredible .875 slugging percentage and 1.419 OPS.

He also had 35 home runs and 72 RBI in 66 games while leading Florida to a College World Series appearance.

The Royals drafted Caglianone at No. 6 overall in the 2024 MLB Amateur Draft. He finished the 2024 season at High Single-A and then played in the Arizona Fall League last year.

Caglianone tore through Double-A and Triple-A after debuts at both levels this spring.

As is always the case with young prospects, Caglianone comes with some risk in redraft formats but major upside. He's definitely a worthwhile investment for anyone in keeper fantasy leagues.

Managers in redraft leagues, though, should have him on the radar as well after his first MLB homer.

Editors Note: Caglianone also hit the second homer of his career versus the Rangers on Thursday. He finished the afternoon 2-for-4 with two solo home runs.