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Kansas City Royals Top Prospect Hits Mammoth Home Run in Arizona Fall League

It's been a struggle for the Florida star and top draft pick since getting drafted, but Tuesday was a great moment.

Brady Farkas

Kansas City Royals first round draft pick Jac Caglianone poses with his mother Johanne Caglianone for photos on the field prior to a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Kauffman Stadium on July 24.
Kansas City Royals first round draft pick Jac Caglianone poses with his mother Johanne Caglianone for photos on the field prior to a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Kauffman Stadium on July 24. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
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Congratulations are in order for Kansas City Royals top prospect Jac Caglianone, who hit his first home run in the Arizona Fall League on Tuesday.

Per MLB Pipeline on social media:

Jac Caglianone DRILLS his first AFL homer 110.2 mph off the bat

The home run had to be a relief for the team's top draft pick from 2024, who has struggled professionally to this point. Our friends at Royals on SI recently wrote about his issues, with Keith Law of 'The Athletic' saying that he looks "gassed" at this juncture in the season. He did play a full college season, went to the College World Series and has kept playing since getting drafted.

Caglianone is the No. 17-ranked prospect in all of baseball right now and is the top prospect in the Royals system as well.

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

A 6-foot-5 physical beast, Caglianone has top of the class left-handed raw power, and he gets to it, as evidenced by his 68 home runs over his final two seasons on campus. He’s very aggressive in the box and there was concern about his tendency to chase pitches out of the zone (44 percent chase rate last year), but he doesn’t strike out a lot and makes a lot of hard contact. He cut his miss and chase rates in 2024 and had a miniscule strikeout rate this spring. He’s solid defensively at first base as well.

The Royals are coming off a season in which they advanced to the American League Division Series, losing to the New York Yankees in four games. They went 86-76 for the regular season.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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