OMAHA, Neb. – Texas A&M employed an extreme defensive shift against Jac Caglianone on Saturday night in the College World Series, spacing four players evenly in the outfield while three infielders occupied the right side of the diamond.
As with almost every strategy used to neutralize Florida’s slugging first baseman, it failed. Caglianone singled during the at-bat in the eighth inning and doubled into the right field corner at 117 mph in the sixth.
Caglianone reached base in four of five plate appearances, including a walk in the top of the ninth inning with the tying run at first base. Ultimately, the Gators stranded five runners in the final two innings and struck out 16 times in a 3-2 loss in their return to the CWS after losing to LSU in the championship series a year ago.
And so, Florida’s season depends on Caglianone, its presumptive starting pitcher Monday afternoon in an elimination game against NC State. The junior All-American, one of the most feared power hitters in years, is also one of Florida’s best arms.
This elimination game scenario makes sense. The Gators wouldn’t be anywhere near Omaha this season without Caglianone, the 6-foot-5, 250-pound left-hander projected to be a top pick in the first round of the MLB Draft on July 14.
His improvement in 2024, even after producing 33 home runs with a .323/.389/.738 line a year ago, is astonishing. Caglianone this year is hitting .414/.536/.862 with the same 33 home runs. He has more than tripled his walk total (from 17 to 53) and reduced his strikeouts from 58 to 25 while posting a 5-2 record on the mound in 72 ⅔ innings over 15 starts.
Third-year Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle, who spent 18 seasons at TCU and served two seasons with the USA Baseball College National Team, said he has never seen a better defensive first baseman than Caglianone.
I mean it does EVERYTHING! @jac_caglianone#NCAABaseball #SCTop10 x 🎥 ACCORDING / @GatorsBB pic.twitter.com/jAvPqzPtuU
– NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 21, 2024
Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said he can’t remember the last time Caglianone made a mistake on the basepaths.
“Sorry for the phrasing, but he’s a weirdo,” said KeynoteUSA baseball analyst Ben McDonald, the former star LSU pitcher who was drafted first overall by the Orioles in 1989. “He’s different.”
Caglianone, 21, reminds McDonald of Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes, the No. 1 pick a year ago out of LSU.
Skenes hit and pitched at Air Force in 2021 and 2022 before his transfer to LSU allowed him to focus on pitching. Imagine the jump with the bat, McDonald said, that Caglianone would give if the team that drafted him asked him to concentrate only on hitting. And unless the Gators make it to the championship series, Monday may mark his last appearance on the mound.
“I think it’s going to escalate quickly,” McDonald said. “If you’ve seen him up close, the body looks like a linebacker. He is very athletic and smooth. That’s what caught my attention about him this year. I thought, ‘Wow, this kid can play first base right now in the big leagues.’
“He is an elite athlete. Like Paul Skenes last year, he is head and shoulders above most.”
The linebacker description fits, but Caglianone is built like a power forward. His legs look like tree trunks. He wears size 17 shoes. He translates well on the baseball field.
In Florida’s 17-11 win against Nebraska in the Stillwater Regional two weeks ago, Caglianone smashed a ball over the right field wall that came off his bat at 119 mph.
MONSTER MASH by JAC 😈
💥 119 MPH from the start#GoGators // 📺 ACCORDING pic.twitter.com/fnzpXR3sUC
– Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) June 2, 2024
“Most of us are used to it,” said Florida sophomore outfielder Tyler Shelnut. “But you can’t play with many guys who are as talented as him.”
Caglianone is fun to watch, Shelnut said. But this season has brought more than excitement to Gainesville. It has brought frustration. After the Gators won 54 games a year ago, led by Caglianone, a Golden Spikes Award finalist in his second year, and six players selected in the MLB Draft, they nearly missed the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
Florida finished 28-27 in the regular season and 13-17 in the SEC. But this month it got hot and won two elimination games against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, then swept Clemson on the road in the Super Regionals last weekend.
The Gators are underdogs in Omaha, making their sixth visit in the last nine seasons, but they will play with unusual freedom in June. It’s almost as if the pressure is off after an inconsistent regular season, Shelnut said.
Caglianone’s attitude epitomizes that renewed confidence.
“I think he’s matured a lot,” Shelnut said. “He has grown as a man and he has learned to handle himself better. He has become an adult. When you’re like Jac and all eyes are on you and everyone’s watching, there’s a big responsibility. He’s done a really good job of being able to handle that.
“It’s their day to day life. He is a humble boy. He doesn’t seek attention. He’s just here to play baseball.”
McDonald felt the same way visiting Caglianone before this CWS. In 1989, with the draft and the CWS going on simultaneously, McDonald felt the pressure of playing on a big stage at that vulnerable time. He lost starts against Miami and Texas, one before the draft and the other after.
He asked Caglianone if he was in a similar situation. McDonald, who spent parts of nine seasons in the big leagues, liked what we heard.
“He said, ‘You know what? I think about it,’” McDonald said. “’But I know this is my last trip with Florida. I have done what I am going to do. “I don’t think I can change where I get selected based on what I do in a tournament.”
“He just seems to be locked in. I asked him about the pressure. He said, ‘Look, there’s always pressure.’ I mean, the bar he set last year was pretty high. You can’t help but keep it in mind. The intention is to focus and be in the moment. But he really seems to be enjoying this experience.”
Caglianone was 5-for-26 with two home runs in six games last year in the CWS. This year it seems like he’s having fun.
After the Gators practiced Friday, he signed autographs for young fans while standing on the warning track near first base for 20 minutes. He would have been longer if he had not been pulled to attend the mandatory media availability.
Caglianone said the pressure to perform has decreased as the team has enjoyed more success.
“The most important thing for me has been playing for each other to get to this point,” Caglianone said. “We have agreed to want team success over individual success. “It has helped drive and motivate us to get to where we are now.”
Showing more patience at the plate has been key in his offensive improvement. He showed discipline in the final inning against A&M. He was down 1-2 in the count with two outs, took three balls and walked one. He put Michael Robertson in scoring position.
“Not being bothered by talking walks is something I wanted to work on,” Caglianone said. “I’m really embracing the approach that, at the end of the day, I just want to win. So focusing on that has clarified pretty much all the other things.”
Jac Caglianone signs autographs at the College World Series. (Mitch Sherman / The Athletic)
The Aggies were happy to oblige. Reliever Evan Aschenbeck couldn’t bring himself to leave a pitch over the plate for Caglianone, who accounted for the go-ahead run.
According to Schlossnagle, the A&M coach, the only effective way to approach Caglianone is to pitch to him without runners on base. The defensive switch often doesn’t make sense, Schlossnagle said, because if Caglianone hits the ball in the air, he’ll probably go over the fence.
“He’s looking to do damage from the first pitch,” Schlossnagle said.
Despite his ridiculously well-rounded game, his cartoonish physique and the jump in his numbers, Caglianone was not named a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award this year.
It was a mistake, said McDonald, who won the honor in 1989 and was elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
O’Sullivan, in his 17th season as Florida’s coach, said he believes some of Caglianone’s gifts and his impact on the Gators are overlooked because he simply does everything so well.
“He’s a complete baseball player,” the coach said.
Fortunately for the Gators, no amount of award disdain or individual disappointment will deter Caglianone.
“All the ups and downs and the ups and downs of the season, at the end of the day, we’re here,” he said. “So there’s not much more to worry about from the past. “You just have to keep looking forward.”
(Top photo: Dylan Widger / USA Today)
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