Jac Caglianone makes early exit against Athletics

The off day Monday apparently wasn’t enough for Caglianone to overcome his ankle soreness. Josh Rave is playing right field tonight.

It’s an issue that has been nagging at Caglianone for a while now and the same injury that caused him to miss Thursday’s game after making an early exit on Wednesday. It’s possible that if it continues to linger Caglianone could require a trip to the injured list.

The 23-year-old slugger was removed from Wednesday’s game due to soreness in his ankle and it was bothering him enough that he was held out of Thursday’s contest as well. The day off seems to have done him some good though, as he’s back in there in right field and batting third against Tigers’ right-hander Troy Melton on Friday evening in Kansas City.

He left yesterday’s game with soreness in the ankle. Royals manager Matt Quatraro said after the game the issue had begun to occur over the weekend against the Angels. “Just going down the line today in that first inning hit, felt it a little bit, and then tried to manage it, go out to outfield, but clearly there was a little (soreness),” Quatraro said. “You know, we’re just trying to be cautious to be honest, because we don’t want something bigger to come up.” We’ll see what comes of this but Caglianone remains day-to-day for the moment. Isaac Collins is starting against LHP Gage Jump today.

It sounds like a precautionary exit, but there should be some additional clarity on Caglianone’s status following the contest. The 23-year-old slugger was hit by a pitch in the third inning, but it wasn’t anywhere near his ankle. He’s been tearing the cover off the ball recently, hitting .429 (27-for-63) with five homers and 20 RBI in 16 games to start the month of August. He’s presumably day-to-day for now, but fantasy managers should check back in ahead of Thursday’s series finale.

Caglianone had three hits in Monday’s win over the Athletics and followed it up with another two knocks on Tuesday. He’s 27-for-63 (.428) with five home runs, 11 runs scored and 20 RBI in 16 games in August so far. Caglianone is hitting .278 with an .823 OPS and 60 RBI this year.

Caglianone smacked a two-run single in the third inning that increased the Royals’ edge to 3-0. He then clobbered a 393-foot (104.0-mph EV) go-ahead two-run homer off of Sammy Peralta in the fifth inning. The 23-year-old slugger then delivered an RBI single in the seventh that tied the score at six runs apiece. He finished the night 3-for-4 and is now hitting .273/.325/.495 with 22 long balls and 58 RBI on the season.

Both hits came off Tarik Skubal, who Caglianone had never faced previously. The 23-year-old is now 15-for-36 with four homers and 12 RBI in nine games this month, raising his OPS from .760 to .806.

It’s Caglianone’s fifth career two-homer game and second with two doubles and, obviously, his first with two of both. Rather surprisingly, he’s the first player this year with four extra-base hits in a game. 13 players did it last year, with Nick Kurtz even managing five in his four-homer game. Caglianone, though, is the first Royal with four extra-base hits in a game since Kendrys Morales in 2015. Caglianone’s hits ranged from 104.9 mph to 111.9 mph. He now has 20 homers and 21 doubles in the season.

The 23-year-old slugger got the scoring started in the ballgame with a two-run single off of Bailey Ober in the third inning. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the night. For the season, Caglianone is now slashing .255/.310/.454 to go along with 18 homers, 45 RBI and four stolen bases in 413 plate appearances.