Royals fans are already enamored with Jac Caglianone as he makes Kauffman debut
In front of a packed press room at Kauffman Stadium, Jac Caglianone shared his sentiments about making his home debut with the Royals one week after his call-up to the majors.
“I’m more excited for this than I was the actual debut,” Caglianone said. “Just excited to play in front of these fans.”
The feeling was mutual, Jac.
As a crowd of 30,017 — including Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes — came through the gates at Kauffman Stadium on a random Tuesday in June, there was already a contingent of Caglianone jerseys flooding in, while others headed to the team store to support the rookie.
Andrew Snively, 35, of Lee’s Summit, has been going to Royals games since 1993. He was among the group in line for a new jersey.
Snively is a Fountain Pass holder this season. That pass provides a guaranteed standing room ticket to every home game.
Once Caglianone received the call, however, Snively upgraded his ticket for Tuesday’s game as soon as he could.
“You just have that extra spark,” Snively said. “I think having a power threat like that, opposed to a .200 hitter, definitely makes a difference.
“I think hopefully it’ll allow us to focus at the deadline on getting one more bat, and that could be the difference between fighting for a wild card spot and getting further in the playoffs.”
Father/son duo Clint and Eli Wolf also made their way to the team store for a Caglianone jersey, with the pair buying their tickets after the news of his call-up.
“I was thinking he could probably get called up right after the All-Star Break with the way he’s been playing,” Eli said. “But I was really pleasantly surprised to see he got called up so early and to see how he’s been hitting the ball already.”
Eli noted Caglianone’s power as the most exciting part of his game.
“He went 0-for-5 in his first game, but (almost) every hit was over 95 miles per hour,” Eli added. “You just don’t see that in a rookie.”
Of the group that already had a Caglianone jersey, prior to Tuesday, there was one fan with a rather ... unique one.
An Angels jersey?
Spotted in the crowd at The K was 22 year-old Dalton Gorham. He sported a modified Shohei Ohtani Angels jersey, with a piece of red tape placed over the first half of Ohtani.
Written on that tape was Jac — “JACTANI” — an ode to Caglianone’s nickname as a two-way player at the University of Florida.
“I was like, ‘Dude, I got my Shohei jersey, I might as well put tape over it,’” Gorham said. His goal is to eventually get both Ohtani and Caglianone to autograph it.
“I know that’s probably impossible, but that would be the ultimate piece of memorabilia that I would have,” Gorham continued.
There was a piece of Gorham’s memorabilia collection, however, that he said took a disappointing hit with Caglianone’s debut.
“I was going to buy a bunch of his rookie cards and then he got called up and they skyrocketed,” Gorham said. “I’m happy he’s up, but disappointed for that.”
The excitement, of course, remains within the Royals organization, especially with 22 year-old sales academy associate Tyler Deutsch. Deutsch is a recent graduate of Caglianone’s alma mater at Florida and has been working with the Royals since January of this year.
“I have a lot of my classmates texting me, asking, ‘How is it? Is it exciting?’ Just really cool stuff,” Deutsch said. “Rocked it at Florida, and should rock it here, too. … He was a star among stars on campus.”
He’s being treated that way in KC, too.
Some in the stadium got a sneak peak at Caglianone’s ability, such as Isabella Duckworth from Louisburg, who made the trip to St. Louis to see Caglianone’s first series on the road.
“I was sitting at lunch and I was like, ‘Should we go?’” Isabella recalled. “And then we were just like, ‘Yeah, let’s go,’ so me and my friend Reagan got in the car, drove to St. Louis and came back the same night.”
Isabella’s attendance Tuesday wasn’t quite as spontaneous, but instead had been in the works for months. A variety of things had to fall into place. She planned to surprise her dad, Steve, who has been a Royals fan that watched “since we used to lose in the 70s,” with tickets to his first game since 2015.
Isabella has recently gotten back into baseball after watching the Red Sox’s “The Clubhouse” series. She has been coming to Kauffman as often as she can this season and was in attendance for all three games against the Red Sox.
So when she was buying tickets for Tuesday’s matchup against the Yankees all those months ago, why did she pick this series?
“The Yankees suck,” she said.
As Caglianone settles in as a major leaguer, fans have made their comparisons to current and former Royals. Snively finds him comparable to Bobby Witt Jr., and Isabella Duckworth says she would “love to see him do some Alex Gordon things” in the outfield. But one particular legend was name-dropped Tuesday.
“Bo Jackson,” Eli Wolf said. “With how early he got called up, and now Jac is the earliest since him. Just the almost aura surrounding him now that he’s been called up.”
There’s a reason that name was mentioned.
There are only two Royals ever to record a four-hit game within the first six games of their debut. They both happened to get called up less than a year after their draft day, too.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Caglianone said. “I mean … it’s Bo Jackson, and he’s probably the best athlete to ever live. So that’s some good company.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2025 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Royals fans are already enamored with Jac Caglianone as he makes Kauffman debut."
