It's happening. The Jac Caglianone breakout is truly happening.

All the guy did on Tuesday was hit two bombs. The first of which just about exited the dome. He added a single, drove in a total of three runs and scored three times. He led the way as the Royals destroyed the Rays, 12-5.

Caglianone is as locked in as a hitter can be. For the month of June, the guy is hitting a tasty .373/453/.773. That's a 223 OPS+. Or a 232 wRC+. Pick your metric...He's awesome. Start the Player of the Month campaign. Hell, someone needs to start pushing the guy for an All-Star spot. At a minimum we need to start to hear his name in the mix for the Home Run Derby.

The first homer came against lefty Shane McClanahan on a 0-1 slider that hung just a bit too much over the plate.

Friends, that was an absolute nuke. It's impossible to tell from the GIF, but the ball hit the catwalk above the scoreboard. I repeat, the ball hit the catwalk above the scoreboard. Officially, the ball traveled 435 feet. Unofficially, that's crap. We know that Statcast has some issues on home run robberies and when balls hit the walls. I would hazard a guess that catwalks cause some accuracy problems as well. That ball was shot out of a cannon.

Can we finally put to rest the idea that Caglianone needs to be protected when it comes to facing tough left-handers? Sure, he'll look foolish from time to time, but when he can turn on a slider from a lefty like McClanahan, let the man eat.

McClanahan got Caglianone in their next battle and it was one of those plate appearances that leaves you wondering. Caglianone got ahead 3-0, watched an extremely hittable middle-middle fastball and then chased a high heater out of the zone before watching another four-seam pipe shot for a called third strike. Yeah, there will be moments, even when he's locked-in.

The adage is revenge is a dish best served cold. Maybe we can also say that proper revenge is a swing uncorked with vengeance. This was the result of the next Caglianone and McClanahan battle:

That was another middle-middle fastball, not unlike what he saw in the previous at bat where he struck out looking. He wasn't looking this time. First pitch. Destruction. Cags may have missed an opportunity in that previous at bat. He wasn't going to miss twice.

This one went 416 feet (which I find believable). It may not have been as impressive as that first blast, but there's something dead sexy about an opposite field home run. Especially when it's left on left opposite field violence. It's raw power.

I cannot stress how impressive this night was for Caglianone. McClanahan has thrown just about 475 major league innings over four seasons. He's a two-time All-Star. He got some down ballot Cy Young Award votes in 2024. I wouldn't say there is a platoon advantage against him as he's equally difficult against both lefties and right-handed hitters. The one advantage that he does have over the left-handed bats is he really suppresses their power. In his career, he has allowed a .359 slugging percentage against righties and a .317 slug versus left-handed bats. Break it down into raw numbers and McClanahan has allowed just five home runs to left-handed hitters in his career. And then Cags went and bashed two. In one game!

This is how Statcast saw his night:

That's four hard-hit balls, three with an exit velocity greater than 105 mph, two barrels and a bat speed that averaged around 79 mph. This is a dude who is beyond locked in. Super-locked.

Here's the story of his season, broken down by month:

This is what we've been waiting for. I hate to hang comps on guys, but personally, when it comes to that power potential, I'm getting some Bo Jackson 1989 vibes. That's nuts, because Bo was an absolute freak of nature, but when it comes to the pure power, I'm not sure the Royals have ever had anyone who can obliterate the baseball like this. Like Bo, Cags's at bats are appointment viewing. Even if you're not focused on the game, when he's up, you have to pay attention. It's incredibly fun in what has been a dreary season. It's amazing to watch.

Caglianone's teammates feel the same way.

"Special. It's really special."

That was Nick Loftin's response when asked about his thoughts on what Caglianone has been doing. You could probably say the same thing about Loftin himself in the aftermath of this game. While Caglianone's blasts took the headlines, Loftin had a career-high four hits with three singles and a home run to put the Royals on the board in the first.

Loftin has been more or less a regular since the start of the series in Washington. It's only been eight games, so all small sample caveats apply, but he's hit .400/.455/.733 with 12 hits, including four doubles and two homers. It's a bona fide hot streak and it's nice to see someone take advantage of their opportunity. Given the way the injuries are piling up, he's going to be difficult to dislodge from the starting nine anytime soon.

The start from Luinder Avila was a bit of a grind, especially early when the game could've flipped either way. He finished five innings allowing three hits and four walks while striking out six. That he just allowed the one run was a minor miracle and perhaps a testament to how he was able to push through on a night where he was fighting his mechanics.

While I have spent exactly zero hours in a pitching lab, it seemed obvious that Avila was struggling with finishing his pitches. With his front shoulder flying open, Avila was leaving pitches well above the zone, at times uncorking six or seven consecutive balls before he would deliver a strike.

He opened the second with back-to-back walks before he rallied to finish off the final two batters in the inning with a couple of whiffs. This is his pitch chart from that frame.

The adjective you're looking for is "messy." But in the spirit of Machiavelli, the ends justify the means. Sure, the pitch count was elevated as he wasn't finishing his pitches and couldn't locate, but he was able to get around the inning without any damage. He did the same thing in the fourth, working around a single and a walk by getting a punchout. His only clean inning came in his last inning, the fifth. Probably not a coincidence that it came after Caglianone broke the game open.

The injury hits just keep coming for the Royals. Ahead of Tuesday's game, the club announced they placed Maikel Garcia on the 10-day IL with a left hand muscle strain. Anyone who's watched a game over the last month and a half has seen Garcia react to a swing and a miss or a swing and a foul. The hand issue is something that was bothering him before he missed a week with a hamstring strain. It's been almost a month.

Then came the news that starter Cole Ragans, on the shelf with an elbow strain, will likely need surgery. The Royals are being cagy about the specific issue and procedure that would be needed, but any time the knife is cutting on a pitcher's elbow, it's going to be a major surgery.

From Reuters:

"We anticipate it being a surgical ​procedure," Quatraro told reporters, per the Kansas City Star. "We don't ‌know, ⁠as of right now, what it means. He's got to see another doctor as well, but we anticipate it being surgical."

From the Star:

“It’s awful,” Quatraro said. “And we talk about it all the time when guys get hurt. These guys grind and work year-round to put themselves in the best position to go out there and compete. Clearly, it’s a blow for him and for us. I mean, our opening day starter the last few years. And that’s a really tough one to swallow for him and his family.”

I guess we'll know more in the coming days, but it certainly doesn't look good.

Meanwhile, Bobby Witt Jr. missed his fourth game in a row with his Grade 1 knee sprain.

I understand the Royals desire to avoid the IL with their star position players, and Garcia and Witt have both become something of iron men over the last couple of years when it comes to their durability, but at this point it certainly feels like the Royals are doing both themselves and their players a disservice by not using the Injured List. Does no one ask the questions along the lines of, "Is it better to have 80 percent Bobby with a risk of aggravating the injury, or is going two weeks without Bobby but we get him back at full strength?" If this was September and the Royals were in a pennant race, sure, keep the guy active and hope he can grit through whatever ails him and recover in the offseason. This is June. And the Royals are 12 games under .500 with a six percent chance to make the playoffs. What's the point of rushing a guy back?

They messed around with Garcia, watched him slug .326 since the series in St. Louis where the third baseman began having issues with his hand, kept him active after June 16 when he missed time because the injury flared up in Washington, and now have to place him on the IL. So much time wasted.

I suppose that's the overarching theme of this 2026 season.

Central Issues

Guardians 1
White Sox 2

A Colson Montgomery single gave the Sox an early lead. Kahlil Watson tied it up for Cleveland an inning later with his first career home run. And then Miguel Rojas put the Chisox ahead for good with a solo shot in the sixth. Starter Sean Burke went 6.1 for Chicago and was followed by Sean Newcomb for the final 2.2 to record his second save of the year. Chicago has sole possession of first in the division and is now 11-1 against AL Central teams at home this season. Guess where Royals travel to after St. Pete?

Yankees 4
Tigers 3

Order is restored as Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a two-run homer in the sixth to power the Yankees to the win. Detroit starter Casey Mize allowed all four runs over 5.2 innings. It was Detroit's 27th straight game where their starter allowed four or fewer runs. The are 14-13 over that stretch. That feels like it's in the spirit of the Royals having the second-most quality starts in the majors this season.

Dodgers 10
Twins 2

This was all about the Dodgers. They always make it about themselves. Andy Pages and Freddie Freeman each had three hits. Justin Wrobleski threw seven innings where he allowed two runs and lowered his ERA to 2.71. I don't know what anyone expected.

The White Sox are in first place. On June 24. This season is officially weird.