The Kansas City Royals used the sixth pick in the 2024 MLB draft to select Florida’s two-way star [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] on Sunday night. The selection spot tied him with John Burke (1991) and A.J. Puk (2016) for the fourth-highest drafted Gator, regardless of position.
However, Jac slid just outside of his projected range coming into the evening to land in K.C., having been seen as a top-five pick before the start of the event. Nonetheless, he became the 14th first-round selection out of Gainesville since the start of the Kevin O’Sullivan era in 2008 — an era that has seen 106 MLB draft picks emerge from his program.
ESPN MLB expert David Schoenfield broke down Caglianone’s profile in his post-pick analysis.
Who is Caglianone?
“Nicknamed ‘Jactani’ after Shohei Ohtani and for his two-way play, Caglianone profiles best as a hitter in the pros — and with good reason,” Schoenfeld begins.
“A huge presence at 6-foot-5-inches and 250 pounds, he became one of the greatest sluggers in NCAA history the past two seasons, leading the country with 33 home runs as a sophomore and then following up with an even more dominant junior season, hitting .419 with 35 home runs.”
It should be added that Cags went 5-2 on the mound with a 4.76 ERA as a pitcher, maxing out at 100 mph on the radar gun.
“It’s grade 80 raw power on the 20-to-80 scale. His 58-to-26 strikeout-to-walk ratio looks impressive, but 31 of those walks were intentional and he has a very high chase rate that he’ll have to improve as a pro.”
Why the Royals took him here
“Imagine Bobby Witt Jr. batting in front of a 40-homer-hitting Caglianone? That’s what the Royals are hoping for — and this is definitely an offense that needs some juice besides Witt, Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino, Schoenfeld continues.
“Note that the Royals announced Caglianone as a two-way player, so it’s possible they will try to develop him as a two-way player. With Pasquantino at first base, Jactani could turn into a DH/SP… sound familiar?”
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