KC Royals' Vinnie Pasquantino praises top prospect's bat, power in spring training

Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino has the best adjective to describe fellow first baseman Jac Caglianone this spring: ridiculous. Pasquantino, Kansas City's incumbent starting first baseman, recently broke down and praised Kansas City's top prospect after spending the spring with Caglianone. Ridiculous was a word Pasquantino used often to describe the Florida product's prowess at the plate.

"He's got massive hands," Pasquantino said. "I don't care what anyone says, that's a tool. You shake the guy's hand, you feel very small. Second thing, light tower power ever heard of it? It's ridiculous."

"The guy touches the ball, it goes over the wall... He's got some really good athleticism. You watch the two of us next to each other, it's like we're playing a different sport, which is cool for me. He just moves really well and he also throws 100 off the bump, so yeah, the guy's got some tools, and he's going to be ridiculous to watch in the years coming through."

Pasquantino describes KC Royals top prospect's bat, power in best way possible

Caglianone has been showing off some of those ridiculous tools in Cactus League action already. He has two home runs to his name this spring, including this two-run shot against the Chicago Cubs on Mar. 6. Statcast numbers or not, Caglianone made this home run to right field look incredibly easy.

Pasquantino would know a thing or two about crushing baseballs in his own right. His 91 MPH average exit velocity ranked in the league's 78th percentile, while his 46.5% hard-hit rate landed in the 80th percentile. The Old Dominion alum had a career-best 19 home runs in 2024, but it was his 97 RBI in 131 games that really helped Kansas City's lineup the most. His underrated gap-to-gap power gave him 30 doubles and a .446 slugging percentage, respectively good for 17th and 19th among AL batters.

The Royals drafted Caglianone sixth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft after a surprising slide. The top two-way player in the draft, Caglianone had a spectacular collegiate career with the Gators. He was a two-time consensus All-American and won the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award in 2024. That "easy power" Royals broadcaster Jake Eisenberg described helped Caglianone set Florida's record for career home runs, finishing with 75 homers, surpassing Matt LaPorta's previous record of 74. He also became the first SEC player to have at least 30 home runs in back-to-back seasons in 2023 and 2024.

The thought of Caglianone and Pasquantino anchoring the middle of Kansas City’s lineup is an exciting one for Royals fans. Both are left-handed first basemen, but if the bats are as good as advertised, the Royals will find a way to keep them both in the lineup.

For now, Pasquantino and Royals fans can only watch and wait, hoping that Caglianone’s MLB career lives up to the hype — or, as Pasquantino put it, is "ridiculous" in the best way possible.