Why a KC Royals coach sees some Salvador Perez and Alex Gordon in Jac Caglianone
A mere 42 days ago Wednesday, Jac Caglianone’s outfield apprenticeship began in earnest under the tutelage of Rusty Kuntz, the Royals’ roving outfield and base-running guru.
Following his first workout with Kuntz that April day in Arvest Stadium, home of the Royals’ Double-A Northwest Arkansas affiliate, Caglianone sat in the dugout and gushed about the workout — and the opportunity to expand his opportunities to slug at the plate beyond the confines of playing first base or designated hitter.
“I felt like I was back in high school,” he said with that seemingly perpetual smile of his. “Because I hadn’t played outfield since high school, but I love it out there. I could finally kind of let it eat, and it’s a good feeling throwing somebody out.”
Still, there’s infinitely more to it than that — nicely symbolized by what happened during one stage of that spring workout.
As Kuntz machine-launched balls to the outfield and made positioning gestures to Caglianone and other teammates, at times they had zero idea what he was trying to convey and could only laugh and joke about deciphering Kuntz’s instructions.
“He’s doing these hand signals,” Caglianone said, “and we’re trying to piece together what he’s talking about.”
Caglianone has come such a vast way in a whirlwind six-week span, though, that the Royals had him penciled in the lineup in right field on Wednesday in St. Louis — one day after he made his major-league debut as a designated hitter and went 0–for-5 while blasting two of the 10 hardest-hit balls off a Royals bat this season, per @RoyalsData.
Wednesday’s game was postponed because of inclement weather, and the Royals will play a split doubleheader against the Cardinals on Thursday.
As of Wednesday afternoon, it wasn’t certain whether Caglianone would play right field in either game Thursday. But it stands to reason that he will then or otherwise imminently because of the progress he’s made … and the void of offensive production the Royals have had from that spot.
You can credit much of that development to Caglianone’s attitude and the work of Kuntz, who was instrumental in converting Alex Gordon from a third baseman to an eight-time Gold Glove winner in left and sees plenty of potential in the field for Caglianone.
“He’s got a very high baseball IQ, so he can Rolodex through the information really, really quick,” Kuntz said in an interview with The Star on Tuesday in the visitor’s dugout at Busch Stadium.
Beyond that, Kuntz couldn’t resist adding, “the body type, the body size, the smile, all that kind of stuff, reminds me of Salvador Perez when he first got here. And (his ability) to take the information and adjust and adapt to it and apply it in the game is along the lines of an Alex Gordon.”
Pausing and smiling, he added, “Two pretty good guys.”
Excited as Kuntz is about the ground Caglianone has gained, though, he also framed his status in a pragmatic context:
Caglianone “got here with a bat,” and, nimble as he is for his size, has not-quite average speed.
“But it’s good enough for a guy who’s 6-5, 250 with size 17 shoes,” Kuntz said, laughing and later adding, “He’s not going to embarrass himself here, but there’s a lot of things that he still has to learn.”
Stuff like how to read spins and backgrounds at various stadiums, including the peculiarities of cavernous Kauffman Stadium. Moreover, as strong an arm as the accomplished pitcher has, Kuntz figures it will be a while before he’s comfortable really letting the ball go in this role.
All of which is understandable enough when it comes to someone who played only 14 minor-league games (out of 50 this season) in the outfield and will need many more reps to become polished.
Reps the Royals would have preferred to give him at Triple-A Omaha before his neon numbers at the plate and their puny offensive production converged to accelerate the call-up.
By way of example of how few game-tested moments Caglianone has had, Kuntz said he attended seven of those 14 outfield starts in person.
“And I think he got five touches — combined,” he said.
The Royals were so eager to get him more work, Kuntz said, that for one game in Salt Lake City they put him in left field because the lineup was largely right-handed.
“We thought for sure he was going to get some action in left field; he got, like, one ball,” Kuntz recalled. “So we put him back in right … And he got one ball.
“So it’s not a large sample size.”
A side-point from the baserunning mentor whose most high-profile moment was the engineering of Eric Hosmer’s seemingly mad dash in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series against the Mets:
Much as he had hoped for live, teachable moments on the basepaths with Caglianone, well, “he was more in a trot the whole time I saw him, if you know what I mean.”
As in Caglianone racked up 15 home runs among his 64 hits for Northwest Arkansas and Omaha.
Kuntz allowed as only having little data on these points is what might be called first-world problems.
After all, more than anything else the Royals are seeking benign options to enable and unleash what Caglianone does best: punish the baseball. Anything more than competence in the outfield and on the basepaths will be a bonus.
Royals fans will get to see that in person next week, when the team returns home to take on the Yankees and Athletics. All eyes will be drawn to him.
Even Caglianone’s batting practice sessions are a hypnotic sideshow.
“You’ll hear it today,” Kuntz said. “No mistaking it. When he swings, and it (the ball) comes off, you go, OK, that’s ‘Cags.’”
While Kuntz still is learning about Caglianone in certain ways, he’s as certain as he is about that sound that the 22-year-old is emotionally prepared for this journey and its peaks and pitfalls.
He’s seen it several times already as Caglianone has climbed the rungs with the Royals and experienced “a few butterflies” on the first day or so of each stop before settling in.
Moreover …
“He’s been on the biggest stage of his baseball life last year with the (College) World Series,” Kuntz said of he slugger’s college career at Florida. “And he handled that really, really well. And now it’s just he’s on a bigger stage.
“I don’t think … with the blood pressure, he really shows any of that anxiety or anything like that. Nah, he’s a cool customer, that’s for sure.”
And one who’s ready to “let it eat” in the process ... learning curve notwithstanding.
This story was originally published June 5, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Why a KC Royals coach sees some Salvador Perez and Alex Gordon in Jac Caglianone."