Florida wouldn’t be headed to Omaha without [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] on the roster, and the national media is about to eat up the last hoorah of perhaps the greatest player ever to wear the Orange and Blue.
The Athletic dedicated most of the words in its [autotag]College World Series[/autotag] field preview to the left-handed Adonis they call Jactani on Monday.
“We have been fortunate to watch some special college baseball players in recent years, but I’m not sure we appreciate just how good Jac Caglianone has been for the Florida Gators over the last two seasons,” college sports editor Mitch Light said. “He was on the shortlist for best hitters in the nation last year as a sophomore and has made a significant leap as a junior.”
Caglianone might not be a Golden Spikes Finalist this year, but there’s no question that he’s upped his game with Wyatt Langford in the pros. He became the team leader whether he liked it or not and set the pace for the program on the diamond all season.
“His home runs have stayed the same (33 each season) while his slash numbers have improved from .323/.389/.738 to .411/.523/.860. His strikeout-to-walk ratio has flipped from 58 strikeouts and 17 walks in 2023 to 25 and 52 in 2024. Oh, have we mentioned he’s also a starting pitcher who throws in the high 90s and has 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings?”
Florida has to make it out of a tough bracket to get back to the finals, but they’ll avoid either Florida State or Tennessee entirely. The Gators already beat Texas A&M in a series this season, but Kentucky has the upper hand heading into double-elimination play. NC State is a relative unknown considering the rest of the field.
The expectations for Caglianone are clear — finish the job and do what last year’s club came one game short of.
“Cags struggled at the plate in the 2023 CWS, going 5 for 26 with two home runs during the Gators’ march to the championship series. The guess is he will be far more productive in his final go-round in Omaha.”
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