These Jac Caglianone projections could be dash of cold water for KC Royals fans

Jac Caglianone is coming to the KC Royals and he’s already been billed as the “offensive savior” for a club that is hoping to really get back into the AL Central race. But can someone who has only played 12 games in Triple-A and 38 games in Double-A really be leaned on to be the game changing slugger in the Major Leagues?

It’s hard not to expect that he’ll continue to dominate pitchers in Kansas City the way he has at Northwest Arkansas and Omaha. Especially since his numbers at both levels were so similar. He posted a .322/.394/.553/.947 slashline in Double-A and a.319/.370/.723/1.094 slashline in Triple-A. But he’s about to see a whole new level of pitching when he officially joins his new team in The Bigs.

Jac Caglianone projections temper expectations for KC Royals’ newly crowned 'offensive savior'

Indeed, the first projects for the KC Royals phenom tells the tale of a player who is set to suffer from some growing pains once he gets to the Major Leagues. Fangraphs has him having a decent, but far from Rookie of the Year type campaign the rest of the way. Another projection has him showing off some power, but also not being quite as dominant as some Kansas City fans might expect.

Fangraphs has Caglianone projected to post a .255/.314/.422/.735 for the rest of the season. The site also expects him to slug 10 homers, not a bad number, but certainly not the kind of power Royals fans have seen so far. 

The former Florida Gators star has 15 homers in just 50 games in the minors this year. He’s got a stretch where he hit homers in several consecutive games almost immediately after getting called up to Omaha. 

Another site, Royals Data Dugout has Jac hitting far more home runs, as they expect his stats in Kansas City closer to .248/.314/.447, 17 HR, 52 RBI. What’s most consistent among these projections is that they don’t expect Caglianone to have a great average or on-base percentage.

If he does get closer to 17 homers, that would be around 30 homers total between the majors and minors. That’s an impressive season, no matter how you cut it. It just may not be as impressive as some KC Royals fans are expecting. There are few prospects that will be expected to put up eye-popping numbers the way that Jac Caglianone will. It’s wise to try and temper those expectations.