Red Sox mess is providing perfect distraction for KC Royals' Jac Caglianone

Late Sunday night, the Kansas City Royals stole the "MLB top prosect" spotlight after they promoted their top farmhand and No. 10 overall prospect in the game (according to MLB Pipeline) in Jac Caglianone.

While the baseball world has been raving about the Royals young phenom over the past few days, that hasn't always been the case.

Over in Boston, the Red Sox currently possess MLB Pipeline's No.1 overall prospect in baseball in Roman Anthony. Like Caglianone, there's been an outcry of support for his promotion to the major leagues after the season he's put together in Triple-A Worcester so far.

Being the best prospect in baseball, Anthony has drawn more eyes than anyone in the minor leagues. And as a result, this has certainly helped keep much of the intense spotlight off of Caglianone, allowing him to focus on raking in both Double and Triple-A - which is precisely what he's done.

Red Sox holding Roman Anthony in Triple-A has been the distraction for KC Royals' Jac Caglianone

When dealing with a No.1 overall prospect like Anthony, there's no questioning that they'll steal the limelight in any given big league season. This is especially the case when said prospect has been nothing short of spectacular in the minor leagues.

The 2025 season is not Anthony’s first rodeo in Triple-A. In 2024 as just a 20-year-old, he slashed .344/.463/.519 with identical 18.9% walk and strike out rates, 20 RBI and a 161 wRC+ in 35 games. That alone had many on major league call-up watch in spring training this year.

The Red Sox however, opted to give Anthony a little more run then just 35 games in Worcester by not having the talented outfielder break camp with them on Opening Day.

But Anthony has done nothing but prove the Red Sox are making a mistake by keeping him away from Fenway Park. In 53 games in Triple-A this season, he's slashing .303/.430/.492 with eight home runs, 23 RBI, an 18.6% walk rate, 20.2% K-rate and a 150 wRC+.

These are the caliber of numbers that Royals fans have certainly become used to when discussing their top prospect in Caglianone this season.

Before he got the call this week, Caglianone was slashing.322/.389/.593 with 15 home runs, 56 RBI and a 159 wRC+ in 229 plate appearances across 50 games in both Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha.

The big difference here is that Anthony had been doing it in the Red Sox system since 2022, a whole two years ahead of Caglianone, making the argument of wasting him away in the minors with nothing left to prove so much stronger than that same argument for Caglianone.

Perhaps with all that extra attention going towards Anthony, Caglianone was able to avoid his fair share of the intense limelight and really focus on his game, thus allowing him to mash minor league pitching in his first full season of professional baseball.

Whether or not the Royals were right to seemingly rush Caglianone to the big leagues, or the Red Sox are wrong for continuing to stash Anthony in the minors remains to be seen.

And whether or not the attention Anthony received from the baseball world clamoring for his promotion had an impact on Caglianone's game can never be truly confirmed. That being said, there's now denying the Anthony has stolen the spotlight and Caglianone dominated in the upper minors, so do with that what you will.

Who knows, perhaps when the dust settles on Caglinaone's call-up after his debut on Tuesday night and the prospect focus shifts back to Anthony and the Red Sox reluctance to promote him, maybe less eyes will help Caglianone thrive in the majors, just as he has at every minor league stop he's made this season.