Minor League Baseball

Kansas City Royals' Top Prospect Shares Fascinating Home Run History with Bobby Witt Jr.

Jac Caglianone hit his first home run at Triple-A Omaha on Thursday, putting him alongside the Royals' MVP-runner up in a fun statistical note.
Brady Farkas|
Florida Gators first baseman Jac Caglianone (14) runs after hitting a home run against the Kentucky Wildcats during the sixth inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. The 75th home run of his career, Caglianone breaks the Florida all-time home run record previously held by Matt LaPorta.
Florida Gators first baseman Jac Caglianone (14) runs after hitting a home run against the Kentucky Wildcats during the sixth inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. The 75th home run of his career, Caglianone breaks the Florida all-time home run record previously held by Matt LaPorta. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

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Kansas City Royals

Kansas City Royals' top prospect Jac Caglianone hit his first home run at Triple-A Omaha on Thursday night, putting him alongside Bobby Witt Jr. in some fun statistical history.

Per Ian Kraft of Royals PR:

May 3, 2022: @BwittJr hit his 1st MLB home run off Dakota Hudson.

May 22, 2025: @jac_caglianone hit his 1st AAA home run off Dakota Hudson.

Witt is the pillar in which the entire franchise is built around, and he's off to another great start this season, hitting .305 with five homers, 28 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. The MVP runner-up last year in the American League, he's also a Gold Glove winner, a batting champion and a Silver Slugger. He made the All-Star Game last season as well.

Caglianone, 22, is the No. 10 ranked prospect in the game, per MLB Pipeline. He's hitting .321 between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Omaha this season with 10 home runs and 44 RBIs. The No. 6 pick in the draft just last year, he's projected to make his debut this season as the Royals chase another playoff berth.

The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com prospect profile:

Caglianone’s power was arguably the best in the 2024 Draft class. The left-handed slugger maxed out with a 121.7 mph exit velocity as a junior and didn’t stop there with a 117.3 mph max EV in the Fall League, second-best among batted balls measured by Statcast

At the MLB-level, the Royals enter play on Friday at 28-23 and in fourth place in the American League Central. They'll play the Twins at 8:10 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is the senior writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and the host of “The Payoff Pitch’’ podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. Follow Brady on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.

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