Tuesday, June 3, 2025

He's coming up. And he can crush the ball

Tuesday, June 03

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Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today's games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Thanks for being here.

The Jac Caglianone era is here. Get ready for fireworks.

The Royals just called up their best prospect since Bobby Witt Jr., and the 22-year-old slugger is set to make his MLB debut tonight against the Cardinals.

Caglianone, Kansas City's first-round Draft pick in 2024 (sixth overall) and now MLB's No. 10 overall prospect, will be the first Royals hitter to debut within a calendar year of being drafted since Bo Jackson. And for good reason.

The No. 1 thing you need to know about Caglianone? He hits rockets.

Caglianone has the most power of any prospect in MLB Pipeline's Top 100. He hits the ball as hard as the biggest sluggers in the big leagues.

Caglianone's average exit velocity at Triple-A this year -- where he smacked six home runs in 12 games -- was 94.9 mph, and his hard-hit rate was 60%. Those numbers are basically identical to the ones MLB's No. 1 overall prospect, Roman Anthony, has been putting up.

And Jac's jacks are monsters, whether you go by how hard or how far he hits them. His hardest Triple-A homer was a 113.6 mph missile. His longest was a 459-foot bomb. And again, he was only there for a dozen games.

Even his singles are ridiculous. When he was still at Double-A in April, Caglianone scorched a 120.9 mph base hit. That's basically as hard as you can hit a baseball. Only a few Major League hitters -- Giancarlo Stanton, Oneil Cruz, Aaron Judge, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ronald Acuña Jr. and Gary Sánchez -- have ever hit a ball 120-plus mph in the decade-plus of Statcast tracking.

So you'll want to tune in at 7:45 p.m. ET. Because you could see some light-tower power.

-- David Adler

GAMES OF THE NIGHT

Astros at Pirates (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): It's Paul Skenes Day. Last year's NL Rookie of the Year showed why he's a legitimate Cy Young contender last time out by fanning seven with no walks allowed over 6 2/3 scoreless innings vs. the D-backs. Houston counters with Lance McCullers Jr., who delivered his best start since 2022 by striking out a career-high-tying 12 batters in just his fifth start since missing nearly 2 1/2 years following surgery.
Brewers at Reds (7:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Milwaukee sends Freddy Peralta to the bump looking to extend the Brewers' winning streak to nine, something the Crew last did in August 2023. Cincinnati ace Hunter Greene might have other ideas, however. The right-hander has allowed just two earned runs or fewer in eight of his 10 starts this season.
Mets at Dodgers (10:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Welcome back to The Show, Ronny Mauricio. The Mets' No. 9 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, is being called up to replace the injured Mark Vientos. In nine games at Triple-A Syracuse, the 24-year-old Mauricio had a .515/.564/.818 slash line with three homers and eight RBIs. Although he's winless in three starts since coming off the 60-day IL, Clayton Kershaw went five innings last time out and showed that he's rounding into form.

GET TO KNOW THE AUSL SQUADS

The Bandits, Volts, Blaze and Talons of the AUSL

By now, you've surely heard that Major League Baseball announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League last week.

Since then, we've published an FAQ to catch you up on all there is to know about the new league, along with features on a dozen players you should get to know and seven MLB connections to softball that you probably hadn't realized.

But how about the teams themselves? We have you covered there, too!

While you can read the full reports on the Bandits, Blaze, Talons and Volts, here's a little factoid on each club to further pique your interest in what should be a highly competitive and entertaining inaugural season:

Bandits: With the first pick in AUSL draft history, the Bandits selected right-hander Lexi Kilfoyl, who was a top-three finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2024 at Oklahoma State and won Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.

Blaze: Outfielder Aliyah Andrews, who gained a large social media following during her college career at LSU, has been nicknamed "Air Aliyah" for her incredible diving catches.

Talons: Speaking of nicknames, infielder Bri Ellis was dubbed "The Barry Bonds of Softball" while being recently named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. Despite rarely seeing a strike to hit, Ellis still found a way to mash 26 homers.

Volts: This veteran squad is stacked with international experience. The Volts have five of the 15 women on this year's announced Team USA roster for the World Games in August.

-- Ed Eagle

'THE BIGGEST SURPRISE I EVER HAD'

Kenneth Anthony Moore Sr. and his family at Rate Field

Since MLB established Lou Gehrig Day in 2021, it has teamed with its 30 clubs each June 2 to raise awareness for ALS and provide support to patients in need of it. This year, that support came in many forms, but one gesture in particular was a common thread: Clubs surprising superfans with customized wheelchairs. A day after the Royals presented Sarah Nauser, a fan and former dugout security employee for the team, with a Bobby Witt Jr.-signed wheelchair, the White Sox followed suit for Kenneth Anthony Moore Sr. Scott Merkin has the story behind the gift that Moore said "is going to help immensely" and "brought me to tears."

-- Tom Vourtsis

PLAY BASEBALL BINGO

Pick one of the day's games, open up your board and see if you can get bingo with these baseball occurrences. Play free >>

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