Former Florida baseball two-way star and Kansas City Royals slugger Jac Caglianone has been called up to MLB, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Caglianone, 22, has dominated the minor leagues in 2025, hitting for a .322 average and slugging 15 home runs in 50 games between Double-A and Triple-A. He ranks as the No. 10 prospect in MLB, per MLB.com.
Caglianone spent a majority of his time in the minors at first base. However, he played primarily in the outfield in Triple-A and is expected to play there in his debut.
The Tampa native drove Florida to back-to-back College World Series appearances in 2023 and 2024, batting for a .355 average while hitting a program record 75 home runs in 634 at bats.
He also tied the program’s all-time-longest hitting streak at 30 games and tied an NCAA record by homering in nine-straight games between April 6-19, 2024.
“Very rarely do you have players like this,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Who when they come to the plate the whole ballpark stops to watch like something great might happen.”
Cagalianone also pitched 148.1 innings as a Gator, recording 170 strikeouts while recording an ERA of 4.55.
His dynamic two-way play at UF led to the Royals drafting Caglianone with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.
“We call him ‘create-a-player,’” O’Sullivan said. “If you were to create a player on the computer, this is what they would look like.”
The Royals (31-29) have scored the joint-second fewest runs in MLB in 2025 and will look for the 6-foot-5 slugger to add a spark. Kansas City faces the St. Louis Cardinals (33-26) June 3 at 7:45 p.m.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is the Summer 2025 sports editor. He is a third-year journalism sports & media major and in his fifth semester at The Alligator. He is a big South Florida sports fan and would die for Matthew Tkachuk.
