Over the past several years, Plant High School in Tampa, Fla., has produced some excellent Draft talent, most notably first-rounders Connor Scott in 2018 (Marlins) and Kyle Tucker in 2015 (Astros). It seemed certain that Caglianone, who was once a two-way player as a power-hitting first baseman and pitcher, will have a future on the mound at the next level, though the need for Tommy John surgery in June clouded that outlook.
When healthy, Caglianone is more about size -- he’s 6-foot-5 -- and arm strength. The left-hander is up to the mid 90s with his fastball, touching as high as 97 mph last fall. He backs it up with a curveball that can be slurvy but has some good late three-quarter break with life and depth to it. He’s working on a changeup with some fade, but it can be a bit firm. He’s worked on a cutter, but that took away from his breaking ball.
The two things Caglianone will have to work on after he gets back from elbow surgery are his command -- it’s spotty right now -- and developing a pitch that's a little softer, because everything he has right now is power. Still, there might be enough ingredients for the Florida recruit to start, with the knowledge that the fastball-slurve combination from the lefty side could be nasty out of the bullpen.
While calling him the “next Shohei Ohtani” might be unfair, Caglianone is the best two-way player in the nation, an easy early choice for the John Olerud Award given to college baseball’s best hitter/pitcher. He has some standout tools both on the mound and at the plate, though big steps forward as a hitter this spring have led most scouts to prefer his left-handed bat over his left-handed arm.
A 6-foot-5 physical beast, Caglianone has top of the class left-handed raw power, and he gets to it, as evidenced by his Division I-leading 33 home runs in 2023. He’s very aggressive in the box and there was concern about his tendency to chase pitches out of the zone (44 percent chase rate last year), but he doesn’t strike out a lot and makes a lot of hard contact. He’s cut his miss and chase rates in 2024 and has a miniscule strikeout rate this spring. He’s solid defensively at first base as well.
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. He might be a top-of-the-first-round bat, with some seeing him more as a second-rounder on the mound.
The 2024 John Olerud Award winner was a two-way standout at Florida, hitting 68 homers combined over 2023 and 2024 while flirting with triple-digits as a pitcher. His bat took the biggest step forward in his Draft year as he slashed .419/.544/.875 with more home runs (35) than strikeouts (26) over 66 games, and the Royals selected him sixth overall before signing him for $7.5 million. Caglianone openly expressed his desire to fulfill both roles as a pro, but after hitting-only stints at High-A Quad Cities and the Arizona Fall League, the organization and player agreed his quickest route to Kansas City was at the plate, so he’ll be focused exclusively on hitting in 2025.
Caglianone’s power was arguably the best in the 2024 Draft class. The left-handed slugger maxed out with a 121.7 mph exit velocity as a junior and didn’t stop there with a 117.3 mph max EV in the Fall League, second-best among batted balls measured by Statcast. That comes from Caglianone’s major strength at 6-foot-5 and the long levers that come with such a frame. He significantly cut his swing-and-miss rate in college in ’24, but he also swung a ton in general with a 39 percent chase rate. That was down only a touch in the Fall League, and more advanced arms will be able to take advantage if Caglianone can’t rein in his approach.
A below-average runner, the former SEC star is a solid defender as a big target at first base, and the Royals have even entertained getting him outfield looks if future roster needs require them. His arm strength would certainly play in a corner. The window is still open for Caglianone to pitch later in his career, but he’ll open it with plenty of opportunities with a bat in his hands.
While calling him the “next Shohei Ohtani” might be unfair, Caglianone was the best two-way player in the nation at Florida, as confirmed by his win of the 2024 John Olerud Award given to college baseball’s best hitter/pitcher. He has some standout tools both on the mound and at the plate, though big steps forward as a hitter this spring led most scouts to prefer his left-handed bat over his left-handed arm. The Royals were glad to select him sixth overall in the Draft and announced they remain open to Caglianone’s two-way status, at least to begin his career. The 21-year-old signed for $7.5 million.
A 6-foot-5 physical beast, Caglianone has top of the class left-handed raw power, and he gets to it, as evidenced by his 68 home runs over his final two seasons on campus. He’s very aggressive in the box and there was concern about his tendency to chase pitches out of the zone (44 percent chase rate last year), but he doesn’t strike out a lot and makes a lot of hard contact. He cut his miss and chase rates in 2024 and had a miniscule strikeout rate this spring. He’s solid defensively at first base as well.
After undergoing Tommy John surgery just before heading to college, Caglianone 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 this spring, 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 last fall to go along with a solid changeup.
These run values are leveraged, meaning the base/out situation at the time of the event does impact the run value (thus introducing context outside the batter's own contribution).
Note: xHR tells how many of this player's home runs would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
Standard
Year
HR
Note: xHR tells how many of this player's home runs would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift: three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of their typical responsible slices of the field. Learn more about how positioning is defined here
