Royal Scrolls: A Series Win in STL... but Jac is the Story

Recapping KC's week, looking ahead to Chicago and thoughts on Caglianone's early returns

Photo courtesy of AP/Scott Kane

Royal Scrolls is a recap of the week so far and a preview of the weekend ahead, along with news, nuggets and notes.

After dropping two of three against the Cardinals a few weeks ago, Kansas City returned serve under the shadow of the Arch, mashing its way to a pair of victories in high-octane (for this club) affairs. A rollicking 10-7 win on Tuesday with heavy fanfare for Jac Caglianone’s debut and a Wednesday rainout led to Thursday’s split — a result KC will absolutely take.

Was a sweep within reach after Noah Cameron lobbed six shutout innings in game one? Sure! In fact, the Royals should consider winning all their games this season.

Jokes aside, juxtaposing Cameron’s sweat-free afternoon with the Cole Ragans meltdown in game two would lead you to assume a split — just not in the order it happened. Yes, one pitcher pinned a zero on the scoreboard and took a no-decision while the other coughed up five runs in three innings while KC went on to win — that’s baseball.

Cameron’s deserving of the spotlight here, same as he’s deserving of a permanent place in the rotation, but Ragans’s rough return from the injured list is worthy of some quick scrutiny.

It’s not as if Kansas City’s ace took a beating here. He gave up five hits and runs apiece in a mere three innings, sure, but only allowed a 30% hard-hit rate and 89.6 MPH average exit velocity. His fastball velocity was down around 1 MPH but flashed 97 and the rest of the arsenal mostly looked fine.

The control in his first outing back from a groin strain is what held Ragans back as he found the zone just 45% of the time, including some wild misses that simply weren’t competitive. However, he managed a 33% whiff and 31% CSW, further evidence the electricity is still on and some patience is earned.

But the story of the week, almost regardless of what happened in the box score or the standings, was the big fella: Caglianone. I could not care less about the results from a few games and a dozen or so plate appearances, but here’s his line from his first series in the Show.

13 PA, 1 H (2B), 1 RBI, 3 K

What does matter? Well, not much. Even advanced data on the approach, swing decisions and the like is irrelevant in such a small sample.

So let’s dive into it anyway! Most of this is going to sound bearish, but I want to make clear: My opinion of Jac Caglianone hasn’t changed. Not. One. Bit. He’s made it this far — reaching the Major Leagues less than a year after getting drafted sixth overall — with an aggressive approach and access to the nuclear codes.

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