Just now that Royals team has suspended 9 games today due to…

The 2024 MLB Draft is showing KC Royals fans what this new draft room is all about as executive vice president and general manager J.J. Picollo shapes this farm system further. The draft started with a bang for the Royals when Florida slugger Jac Caglianone unexpectedly fell out of the top-five selections. Picollo and company did not overthink the selection and drafted Caglianone sixth overall. It was a welcome surprise and likely gave Kansas City a new top prospect.

The collegiate two-way player’s impact in the minors remains to be seen, but that shouldn’t stop Royals fans from dreaming a bit. We checked in with Hail Florida Hail’s Benjamin Henderson, covering all things Florida Gators. Let’s hear from Henderson about why Royals fans should be excited about Caglianone.

As a true freshman in 2022, he was coming off Tommy John surgery during high school, which was one of the reasons he wasn’t drafted straight out of high school. Florida didn’t have the greatest of seasons in 2022 by their standards, and so, in typical coach Kevin O’Sullivan style, he started plugging in guys like Caglianone towards the end to see who could swim and who would sink.

Caglianone did fine enough as a true freshman, but once he was fully healthy in 2023, it became apparent Florida had something special on their hands. I wouldn’t say he changed his approach between the two years; more so, he was healed and able to add on muscle to help the balls fly off the bat.