February 8, 2026

Caglianone was one of the most hyped hitting prospects in baseball last season. He earned the hype too, hitting .337 with 20 home runs and a .617 SLG in 66 games at Triple-A last season. That got him promoted to the majors, where he promptly fell on his face. Caglianone hit .157 with a .237 OBP and .138 ISO in 232 major league PA last season. It was a brutal showing, and Caglianone also missed over a month with a strained hamstring, making it difficult for him to find a rhythm. Still, the Royals believe in him enough to make him their everyday right fielder heading into 2026. He's currently going as the 218th player off the board in NFBC leagues. Is he worth the late round stab? It's worth noting that Caglianone was incredibly unlucky on batted balls last season. He has just a .172 BABIP, the lowest by over 30 points for any player with at least 200 PA last season. His quality of contact wasn't bad enough to warrant such a low BABIP, as he had a 12% barrel rate and a 114.1 max exit velocity. His .237 xBA and .431 xSLG aren't great, but they suggest that Caglianone should've had better results than he wound up with in 2025. It's encouraging that he only struck out 22.4% of the time, and he's shown great plate discipline in the minors. The Royals have a sneaky good lineup, and Caglianone could be hitting in the meat of it this season. He's only 23 years old, making him a great post-hype sleeper to take a chance on at cost.--Elliott Baas