Jac Caglianone could defy this historical trend with KC Royals

Open up a dictionary. Turn to the word "prospect." What do you see? It isn't an 18-year-old draftee, an international free agent, or their future, polished selves knocking on the door of The Show. Rather, Merriam-Webster says a prospect is "something that is awaited or expected" or "the act of looking forward." If that is the case, KC Royals fans will be closely following the prospect of slugger Jac Caglianone for years to come after the 2024 MLB Draft.

Jac Caglianone's ceiling with KC Royals seems limitless.

The Florida alum fell outside the top five this past weekend, a shocking development for many draft pundits. Kansas City, luckily, sat sixth overall and made the easy decision to select Caglianone. While Caglianone is undeniably a talent worthy of that draft selection, the real mystery begins after he signs with Kansas City.

How will that talent manifest? Will it be solely a left-handed bat with 70-grade power? Will it be a fastball-first pitcher with promising secondary offerings? One or the other seems most likely, but there is an outcome Caglianone should be able to pursue: both.

The plan is to build off of what I did in the past couple of years in college...Really just developing on the pitching side of things as well as the offensive side of things... I’m very thankful they’re giving me the opportunity to do both. I won’t let them down.

Caglianone undoubtedly made himself a household name with his bat, bashing 68 home runs for the Gators across his last two seasons. Every swing has a chance to deposit a ball 400-plus feet over the right field fence, or even 516 feet, to be precise.

Caglianone's pitching potential could determine his MLB future.

Caglianone's raw power is an unending luxury for the Royals' farm system, and he will certainly abuse some less-talented competition en route to The Show. But fans, and Caglianone, want to see if he will pitch along that road to the major leagues. After all, he found some success against staunch collegiate competition. Why shouldn't he have a chance? MLB Pipeline made the case for Caglianone's raw tools on the mound.

The Tommy John surgery survivor struggled to find the strike zone in his first collegiate pitching action last year, but a more compact delivery was helping him stay around the zone more, even if his walk rate still remained high. He touches triple digits with his fastball, and he introduced a 90-mph cutter that he featured more than his slider this fall to go along with a solid changeup.

Caglianone posted a 4.55 ERA across 34 starts, with 170 strikeouts in 148.1 innings pitched. There is no question about his stuff's potential, but it was his lack of control that caused doubt. 105 walks in his collegiate body of work is an incredibly high clip, fueling his 1.470 career WHIP in Florida. But the talent and sustained opportunities at Florida are hard for even Royals executive vice president and general manager J.J. Picollo to ignore.

It’s unique to have somebody that can do both and has done it at a really high level in the SEC. Doing it in the Major Leagues is another thing. And that’s something we’re going to continue to talk about and figure out how this can work. But we love his bat. We’ll say that. We love his bat, love his power, and love his athleticism. And that is, first and foremost, where we are. But we are well aware of what he can do on the mound as well.

So, the door is open. Could Caglianone defy the odds and realize his nickname, Jactani? The deck is incredibly stacked against the slugger.