Jac Caglianone: Ripped Off?

     I've seen this conversation before. The best example that I can think of is Jackson Holliday; a player rakes in Spring Training (in Holliday's case, batting .311 with 3 doubles, 2 triples and 2 homers in 15 spring games in 2024) and then getting left off the Opening Day roster for more development.

    The annoying thing about Holliday is that he was the top prospect going in to 2024 -- and in the minor league season of 2023 he batted .323/.442/.499 with 113 runs, 30 doubles, and 24 swiped bags in 125 games. 

    Holliday was evidently not ready for the majors -- in 60 MLB games in 2024 he batted just .190 with a .565 OPS. Though I am of complete confidence that Holliday will be fine and even a star of the game in the near future, his case represents why a team would keep a player down even if he hits well in spring.

    

    Jac Caglianone's case is a little bit different. He was drafted in the first round of the 2024 draft by the Kansas City Royals. The highest level he ever played was High-A ball, where he slashed .236/.302/.388.

    However, in 2025's Spring Training, Caglianone is batting .500/.609/1.167 with 3 homers in 14 games. This is nothing shy of amazing. Take a look at this beautiful third home run of Caglianone's spring:

    Even though Caglianone has put up other-worldly numbers in Spring Training, the Royals have announced that they will not be putting the first-baseman on the Opening Day roster or 2025. Granted, Kansas City has Vinnie Pasquantino at first base already, and though one of them could DH, the Royals have players who can hit to go in the DH role (e.g. Freddy Furmin and Salvador Perez, the duo of catchers). 

    I'm all for letting young guys with incredible talent get a crack at the majors, but with such a small sample size, perhaps his staying down is for the better. We'll just need to see.

    How do y'all feel about this, if you have an opinion? Is Caglianone getting ripped off, or is this a smart move by the Royals? Please let me know in the comments.

    Unfortunately, I don't have any of Jac Caglianone's baseball cards, so I've got nothing to show off. Nonetheless, I promise I'll have plenty of cards for the next post. Meanwhile, thank you for reading Don Cardwell, have a great weekend, and happy collecting!