Where's the best spot for Jac Caglianone in this KC Royals lineup?

Jac Caglainone will make his Major League debut and suit up for your Kansas City Royals tonight against their rivals in the St. Louis Cardinals. Less than a year after being drafted sixth overall, Caglianone finds himself on the road with the boys in blue.

Cags was promoted earlier than most analysts predicted for two reasons: His play in the minor leagues was undeniably great, and the Royals are desperate for a spark.

Now that he's here, one looming question has yet to be answered. Where will Jac Caglianone hit in this Royals lineup?

Where's the best spot for Jac Caglianone in this KC Royals lineup?

J.J. Picollo announced on 96.5 The Fan that they have decided between 5th and 6th in the lineup, and I agree with that line of thinking. He's high enough in the order to be dangerous protection for someone like Maikel Garcia or Salvador Perez but low enough that he won't necessarily feel the weight of carrying the team.

For the majority of the year, the Royals top five hitters have looked like this:

1. Jonathan India
2. Bobby Witt. Jr.
3. Vinnie Pasquantino
4. Salvador Perez
5. Maikel Garcia

Caglianone fits the 6th spot best in my opinion. The players before him are all vets and established hitters. Let them set the table and let Jac clear it. While there is chatter around moving Perez down in the order (which I'm not opposed to), Cags would fit great behind Garcia right now.

Garcia is not a typical run producer, but he belongs in a run-producing role on this team. Caglianone will surely hit for extra bases when he's not hitting the ball over the wall, and Garcia's speed around the bases could mean an extra run or two for the Royals.

I would also listen to a proposal for the 5th spot, but in that scenario, Perez would slide down to 6th with Garcia moving into the 4th spot.

Conventional baseball wisdom tells us that we don't want to put too much on a rookie's shoulders too soon, even if they are the shoulders of a 6"5' 250 manchild. The talent gap from Double-A to Triple-A is considerable, and the jump from Triple-A to the majors is even wider.

It's usually not good business to expect a rookie to be a difference-maker in your lineup from day one, but that is exactly what J.J. Picollo and the Royals front office are looking for from young Jac Caglianone.

Caglianone is here because he excels at driving baseballs out of ballparks violently. The Royals do not do that well, as their 34 home runs rank dead last in the MLB. The Royals also hope that he can drive in his teammates when they're in scoring position. His 56 RBIs would rank him first on this team and give him 25 more than Pasqunitno and Bobby Witt Jr.

Hitting for power and driving runners into score are precisely the job requirements of someone hitting 5th or 6th. They don't have as much pressure as the four-hitter to come through, but they are still counted on and trusted more than the hitters that come after them.

If Jac Caglianone lights the world on fire early and outperforms his spot in the lineup, then the Royals can adjust and move him up on the fly. Let's keep him in a relatively modest role until he proves he's outgrown it.