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By Tyler Bednar
Cronkite News

PHOENIX — Dennis Braun has been Plant High School’s baseball coach for 20 years, and he runs a tight ship when it comes to uniforms. Every player wears the same thing. For former Plant Panther and current MLB.com’s No. 17 prospect Jac Caglianone, the uniform wouldn’t fit. The team wears Nike baseball cleats, and the company doesn’t make cleats his size.

Located in Tampa, Florida, Plant High School is known for its plethora of players to make their mark at the highest level of baseball. There was a solution to Caglianone’s size.

“The shoe he wore in school was (Aaron) Judge’s,” Braun said. “Mychal Givens, a former big leaguer who played here, talked to Judge, and Judge gave a couple pairs of shoes to Jac every year, and that’s what he wore here.”

The average Major League Baseball player stands at 6-foot-2 and 209 pounds. Aaron Judge, a six-time All-Star and 2022 American League Most Valuable Player is one of the largest active players in baseball, standing at 6-foot-7 and 287 pounds.

Caglianone is listed as standing at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds on Baseball Reference. His size is one of the first things that people notice. His size 17 cleats make them do a double-take.

Current Cincinnati Reds prospect Edwin Arroyo, a 2021 second-round draft pick and the No. 65 prospect in Minor League Baseball, was teammates with Caglianone on the Florida Travel Ball San Francisco Giants Scout Team and is currently competing in the Arizona Fall League. He says Caglianone’s size was his first impression of him. Braun says he would use the words, “brute strong,” to describe Caglianone.

Baseball’s top minor league prospects have traveled to Arizona to showcase their talents nearly every fall for the last 32 years. MLB Hall of Famers Derek Jeter, Roy Halladay and Todd Helton began their career in the Valley playing in the Arizona Fall League.

Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and Judge are current players who will likely make the Hall of Fame once their careers end. All four superstars played in the Arizona desert, before winning Most Valuable Player awards and becoming household names.

Every player who appears in the AFL hopes they can gain knowledge and experience from other talented players, then parlay those experiences into careers larger than Caglianone’s stature and more successful than Judge, who is the fastest player to hit 300 home runs, led the New York Yankees to their first World Series appearance since 2009 this season and will likely win his second MVP when awards are announced during the offseason.

Caglianone, a 21-year-old two-way star better known as “Jactani” because of his Shohei Ohtani comparisons, just wants to enjoy the experience.

“Really, just to get more experience in pro ball,” Caglianone said at AFL media day. “(I’m) kind of going into it optimistic, you know, hoping for nothing but success. And, you know, meeting a bunch of new guys and making new friends and just kind of enjoying it, taking it day by day.”

In 2024, Caglianone is one of the most well-known faces of the Arizona Fall League. The sixth overall pick turned heads during his three years with the Florida Gators, before the Kansas City Royals selected him in July’s draft. Caglianone is the highest-rated prospect playing in the AFL this year.

Caglianone grew up in the Tampa Bay area, where his love for the sport blossomed. Florida is a baseball mecca, and he was surrounded by it during his childhood. His dad introduced baseball to him, and he chose the sport over all the other sports an American kid will try growing up.

Additionally, growing up in Tampa allowed Caglianone to be around baseball all year long. The area features Steinbrenner Field — the home to New York Yankees spring training. He visited the stadium, despite loving the Tampa Bay Rays and his favorite player, David Price, growing up.

“It was really cool,” Caglianone said about watching Yankees games at Steinbrenner Field. “I mean, you know, they got (Robinson) Canó and all that. So watching him play, watch (Derek) Jeter. I was there when (Giancarlo) Stanton first got there, so I was watching his spring training games, and seeing (Aaron) Judge a few times. Honestly, the memories were just going with my dad, just kind of talking about the game.”

Caglianone rose to stardom playing in the central Florida baseball scene with Plant High School — a school known for consistently producing top-end talent, including 10 MLB players who have combined for 20 All-Star appearances. Most notably, Boston Red Sox legend Wade Boggs hailed from Plant High School, before appearing in 12 All-Star games over an 18-year MLB career.

Current stars Pete Alonso and Kyle Tucker also played for Plant before having successful starts to their career. Alonso produced clutch hits for the New York Mets’ unexpected 2024 postseason run, while Tucker was a critical member of the Houston Astros’ 2022 World Series. The two sluggers have combined for seven All-Star appearances in their career.

“In the offseason, they’d come hit while we were practicing and stuff,” Caglianone said. “We got to watch them take BP and kind of ask them about things. I’ve trained with Kyle (Tucker) for the past five years now back home, so I’ve gotten to know him a little bit better, and kind of just see how he goes about his work and how he has the success that he has.”

Attending Plant High allowed Caglianone to be exposed to top major league talent, and he has taken bits and pieces from both Tucker and Alonso. Caglianone says the two train differently. Tucker is a person who likes to put his head down and work, while Alonso has the “prove everyone wrong” mentality.

Caglianone joins a list of elite baseball players to go through Plant High over the past 15 years. Since 2009, six players have been selected in the first two rounds of the MLB draft – all of whom played under Braun.

“I think just Tampa in general, there’s a lot of players, it’s very competitive, and I think it’s hard to be successful here,” Braun said. “Once they figure it out here, in my opinion, I think it allows them … to keep finding the game and letting the game be a little bit easier for them, because they’ve already been through some struggles.

“Most of them did struggle here at times. I think when they get to the other places they’re able to handle it a little bit better.”

Arroyo and Caglianone had a reunion at the Fall League media day after playing together on the San Francisco Giants Scout Team. Arroyo said he was excited to see Caglianone, as he watched his career unfold at the University of Florida after the Giants Scout Team.

“He was always really good,” Arroyo said. “I think that year he got hurt, so that kind of pushed him back, but he’s always been a really good player.”

Caglianone provided positive sentiments about seeing Arroyo, who he hadn’t seen in three years since playing together.

“I saw him at media day,” Caglianone said. “We’ve texted here and there. It’s always great to see people that I used to play with, especially since I haven’t seen him in, like, three years. It was like a blast in the past, but it’s great to see him healthy (and) back on the field again.”

Caglianone excelled as a two-way player in high school. He could throw 98 miles per hour as a lefty, and he had a powerful left-handed swing.

“He could always hit it as far as anybody we’ve ever had,” Braun said. “He’s kind of one of those kids that wanted to hit it further each time. I used to always tell him, ‘It only has to go over the fence, Jac.’

“Some still go really far, and some just go over the fence, but they all count the same.”

Right after his senior year at Plant finished, Caglianone learned he would have to undergo Tommy John surgery — a major setback for any player wanting to prolong his career. While he was recruited to pitch for the University of Florida, Caglianone quickly proved his bat was strong enough to be a regular contributor in Florida’s lineup. He played 28 games as a true freshman.

To call his next two seasons with the Gators a success would be selling him short.

In 2023, he set Florida’s single-season home run record with 33, surpassing Wyatt Langford and Matt LaPorta’s 26 home runs.

In 2024, he outdid himself. He torched 35 home runs in 66 games, which set the single-season record again. In the process, Caglianone hit his 75th career home run, breaking Matt LaPorta’s record for most in the history of Florida baseball and tied for eighth-most in an NCAA career.

Caglianone made even more history during the middle of the 2024 campaign. Beginning on April 6 against the University of Missouri, he hit a home run in nine consecutive games — tied for the most games in a row with a home run. The streak ended on April 20, two weeks after it all began.

Caglianone’s success at the plate has garnered a ton of attention from fans, which he takes with pride.

“I mean, that’s kind of why you do it,” Caglianone said. “I try to hold myself to high accountability, just to try and be a role model. It was always cool growing up when a big leaguer would take his time to sign or throw you a ball or something like that. So now, being in their shoes and kind of being able to make another kid’s day, it’s really good. It makes me really happy.”

Caglianone returned to the mound in his final two seasons after recovering from Tommy John surgery. Caglianone made 34 starts and threw to a 4.55 ERA as the team’s Sunday starter. With a fastball that can touch 100 mph, a cutter that reaches 90 mph, a slider and a changeup, he struck out 170 batters in 148 1/3 innings for the Gators.

Although he was drafted sixth overall for his two-way prowess, Caglianone and the Kansas City Royals opted for him to focus on offense during his first year with the organization, so he won’t be pitching at the Fall League, which ends Saturday.

“The Royals and I, you know, had great communication throughout the whole draft process and everything, and with the innings that I threw this past year, they thought it was best (to) just kind of shut down and focus on hitting this year,” Caglianone said. “Then, we’ll kind of circle back and refigure, you know, next season, in the offseason, kind of talk through things.”

Caglianone has been playing baseball nearly nonstop over the past year. Florida, like many other collegiate programs, plays fall baseball. Then, Caglianone led the Gators to their second consecutive College World Series appearance. After the Royals selected him sixth overall in the July draft, Caglianone played in 29 games for the High-A Quad Cities River Bandits.

Now, he’s here in the desert, where he’s played in 20 games and hit four home runs for the Surprise Saguaros. It’s been an eventful past year.

“Yeah, honestly (I’m) just super grateful,” Caglianone said. “I’m really big in my faith, so I’m feeling just super blessed to not only have this opportunity, but to kind of share it with my dad, who’s a big baseball guy.

“So telling him the people that I’ve met and been around, he’s living through me a little bit with everything so, but no, I’ve just been enjoying it. It’s very fast-moving, you know, it’s a lot different than college, that’s for sure, but it just takes a couple weeks to get used to everything.”

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