Gene Frenette: Jac Caglianone made Florida baseball must-see entertainment in ho-hum season

When Jac Caglianone showed up on the University of Florida campus in late June 2021, there were no expectations.

The kid with matinee idol looks, attached to a 6-foot-5, 250-pound body, didn’t have a bunch of flattering nicknames (among them Sultan of the Swamp, Jac-hammer) like he does now.

Caglianone had just undergone Tommy John surgery two weeks earlier in a Manhattan facility by renown specialist Dr. David Altchek, the New York Mets’ head team physician.

Nobody had any idea he would eventually turn into a two-way phenom, the Shohei Ohtani of college baseball, and be projected as a top-5 pick in the July 14-16 Major League draft.

Caglianone (pronounced CAG-lee-own) was then a promising MLB prospect, both as a hitter and left-handed pitcher, that would go undrafted because the surgery put his future in limbo.

So much has changed in the three years since an MRI showed a torn left ulnar collateral ligament. It removed Caglianone from competition for 10 months, though it was initially supposed to be longer.

The Tampa Plant High product has evolved into a college baseball rock star, getting flooded with autograph requests on the road during postgame walks to the team bus. It happened again during UF’s last regular-season series at Georgia, and Jac's level of popularity rather amuses Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan.

“All the wives and mothers [in the UF program] call him Gaston from Beauty and the Beast,” said O’Sullivan. “Look, everybody respects the limelight he’s under. I have no idea the amount of pressure he’s under day in and day out.

“There were Georgia fans in droves outside of our bus wanting his autograph. I’m not saying it’s [Tim] Tebow-like, but it’s a different thing what he goes through every day.”

The Gaston monicker is a nod to Caglianone’s rugged good looks, not the arrogance and ruthless behavior exhibited by the Disney fictional character. But he’s fine with all the attention.

“I try to be accommodating,” said the 21-year-old Gator. “I’ll never say no to signing for a kid. It’s cool because one day, people aren’t going to be asking for an autograph, so it’s awesome.”

Caglianone, who began playing organized baseball at age 4 with the T-ball Yankees, has only himself to blame for becoming one of the most recognizable stars in UF program history. His display of power has allowed him to collect 69 home runs (five short of the school record set by Matt LePorta) and 175 career RBI in 154 games.

Despite the Gators enduring their worst season in O’Sullivan’s 17-year tenure — finishing 28-27 overall during the regular season, 13-17 in SEC play and being a heavy underdog as a No. 3 seed in the Stillwater regional of the NCAA tournament — the presence of “Jac-tani” at the plate and on the mound has been must-see entertainment.

Tommy John hurdle

Being the biggest, strongest player in almost every game he’s played for a decade or more has instilled an element of fearlessness in Caglianone, with one notable exception.

Shortly after his final high school season ended, he was pitching in an All-Star state tournament when Caglianone felt pain in his forearm area.

“I was throwing about 97 [miles per hour] in the bullpen during warmups,” Caglianone said in a 40-minute interview last week before a UF practice. “I threw a cutter in the game and felt something, then a fast ball after that and it hurt.

“I was freaking out because I never had arm problems. I looked at the dugout and told the coaches to come get me.”

An MRI two days later revealed the damage that would require surgery. Caglianone’s parents, Jeff and Johanne, knew that his MLB draft chances (the draft had moved from early June to mid-July in the first post-COVID year) were gone for 2021.

So they pivoted to their son’s recovery. They did research and targeted Altchek as the doctor they wanted performing the operation.

Jac’s injury timing was awful. Caglianone, whose hitting had always been ahead of his pitching, had just started to establish himself as a pitcher who consistently found the strike zone to go with that live arm.

Until his senior year at Plant, he was somewhat of a pitching wild card in scouts’ eyes. The book on him changed to a legitimate two-way prospect.

This season, he was UF’s most dependable pitcher, compiling a 5-1 record in 13 starts with a 4.35 ERA, holding opponents to a team-best .217 average.

“Toward my senior year of high school, I was more like a pitcher who could hit,” said Caglianone. “I feel I’m in a way better spot now than last year on the mound. The progression has gotten a whole lot better.”

UF changes the game plan

Midway through the 2022 season, Caglianone was summoned into O’Sullivan’s office for a candid conversation about scrapping his redshirt year and inserting him into the lineup only as a designated hitter.

The idea took Caglianone by surprise, but he was amenable under certain conditions. First, he had to be sure it would meet his parents’ approval.

Another concern was whether O’Sullivan — worried about his team’s lack of offensive punch and 6-9 SEC record at the time — would bench him if he struggled to shake off so much rust.

“There wasn’t concern on my part, it was my inner circle outside Florida,” said Caglianone.

But O’Sullivan had convinced himself it was time to turn No. 14 loose just as a DH for the remainder of the season.

“Jac had taken BP at Vanderbilt the weekend before and he’s hitting balls out, just a different animal,” said O’Sullivan. “I told him, ‘You’re not going to be here four years and I know you can help us now. I think you should hit.’

“I promised him, if he went 0-for-20, I wasn’t going to pull him. Just his presence in the box is different. I didn’t know then he would be doing what he is now, but I know he looked different than anybody else and hit balls farther than anyone.”

The long layoff wasn’t a major impediment. Jac hit a respectable .288 with seven home runs and 27 RBI in 27 games.

Eye-opening college debut

After that office chat on April 18, 2022, Caglianone got the green light from his parents a couple days later. It was right before a three-game home series against Tennessee, then the No. 1-ranked team in the country.

O’Sullivan, not liking the Friday and Saturday matchups, waited until the final meeting on Sunday to let Caglianone make his college debut at Condron Ballpark in Gainesville.

In his second at-bat, he drilled a first-pitch changeup from SEC Freshman of the Year Drew Beam, now the Volunteers’ ace, over the green board in straightaway center field.

“I struck out against him the first at-bat on a changeup,” said Caglianone. “I knew he’d throw it the first pitch next time and I put a good swing on it.

“Going from high school to facing the No. 1 team in the country, you don’t know how it’s going to go. It reassured me that trusting my stuff, my preparation and swing, was going to help.”

It might have been the biggest at-bat of Caglianone’s college career. While breaking LaPorta’s UF single-season home run record last year was a nice milestone, that home run off Beam proved to be a critical breakthrough and confidence boost.

“When he hit that home run, it was crazy,” said Jeff Canglianone, a civil litigation attorney. “As he’s rounding first, he points back at me and his Mom. Looking back, I think it helped him getting in those 27 games. It was instrumental in his success.”

The Gators might have gotten swept by Tennessee, but they went 19-8 with Caglianone in the lineup. It allowed them to host an NCAA regional, which UF lost 5-4 to Oklahoma in a winner-take-all final to end their season.

Still, calling an audible on Caglianone’s redshirt year was invaluable. It ignited the UF career of a player who hit only five home runs in high school to a whole different level.

Playing home run derby

When Caglianone returned for his first full college season, it was then he unleashed a real-life power surge reminiscent of Roy Hobbs in the movie, “The Natural.”

He sent eight balls over the wall during an eight-game stretch in late February. It’s not like Caglianone was just feasting on sub-standard pitching either.

Sixteen of his 33 home runs in 2023 came against either SEC clubs or Florida State, including two against LSU that sent the College World Series championship to a decisive third game. He also homered in nine straight contests in April, tying Nevada's Tyler Bosetti (2021) for the all-time NCAA record.

“The power was always there for Jac, it just didn’t show up in the stats in high school,” said Dennis Braun, who just completed his 20th season as the head coach at Tampa Plant. “Jac hits the ball as far as anybody we’ve ever had.

“Plus, the ball goes 20 percent further after he left here because of the crappy baseballs we play with in high school.”

One Jac bomb that still gets talked about is the ball he launched against Jacksonville University this season, a 516-foot moon shot that landed in the parking lot over the Condron scoreboard in right center.

That tape-measure job exceeded his previous personal best, a 491-foot home run two weeks earlier against Florida A&M. Caglianone also belted homers of 488 feet against Tennessee last year and a 485-foot shot in a 13-1 romp at Missouri in 2022.

“I don’t think people realize how strong he is,” said Braun. “His hand [size] is unbelievable. I think that’s a big thing for a hitter.”

Jac wants dual challenge

The conundrum for many MLB teams when evaluating Caglianone is determining what role he best fits for their organization.

One veteran MLB scout, who requested anonymity of both his name and employer, has seen Caglianone play more than a dozen times in the past couple years.

He acknowledges it’s fair to equate the Florida junior to Ohtani on the college level, but the scout adds any insinuation that he can be the next Ohtani in MLB is premature. Some teams may decide they prefer Caglianone in just one role, not two.

“I’m going to be as neutral as I can be on this because we’re getting into sensitive areas,” the scout told the Times-Union. “I would think most clubs would have a position in mind when they draft [Caglianone], a good vision of what he is.

“It’s difficult to compare him to Shohei because Jac is doing it in college with a 55-game schedule and Ohtani over 162 games. I don’t think people realize what Ohtani is doing at the major league level with the travel and time zone changes. Ohtani is doing something really special.”

Unlike Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers star who has settled into a dual role as DH/pitcher during his seven MLB seasons, Caglianone is considered an elite athlete with strong defensive skills as a first baseman.

In a 6-3 loss to Vanderbilt at the SEC tournament last week, Caglianone went a long way in foul territory down the right field line to snag a pop-up on the run that most first basemen would have likely missed.

“People overlook Jac’s defense,” said the scout. “He’s a huge target with a tremendous reach and a really good athlete. You have to pick what he is. He’s a first-round pick as a left-handed pitcher and a first-rounder as a hitter. I’m not sure people think he can do both in the big leagues, but I’d like to see the experiment tried.”

Caglianone has too much respect for authority to make demands on his future role, but he clearly prefers to try playing first base, maybe some outfield, and pitch in some capacity.

“I’ll do whatever teams ask, but I want to do the two-way thing as long as I possibly can,” said Caglianone. “Having success at it in the best conference, it shows what I can do.

“The hitting is ahead of my pitching. It has always come the easiest to me because when I came home from middle school and finished my homework, my Dad and I would always go to the park to hit.”

So does he see himself as a two-way player in the big leagues?

“I don’t know yet, to be honest,” Caglianone said. “I plan on doing both and I think I’ll have the opportunity to do that. Until somebody tells me you’re going to do A or B, I’ll put forth my effort to doing both.”

Pitcher, hitter or double duty?

Since Jeff Caglianone coached on many of his son’s youth teams, he had significant input about his position. Dad purposely limited Jac’s time on the mound because he worried about arm fatigue.

Without that Tommy John surgery setback, he’s not sure if Jac would have ever worn a Florida Gators uniform.

“After his senior year of high school, I think he was pretty much looked at as a pitcher [by MLB scouts],” said Jeff. “Had Jac not gotten hurt and ended up being drafted out of high school, I don’t know if they would have had him pick up a bat again.”

Suffice to say, Caglianone’s stock has never been higher. He hit .415 this season with 29 homers and 58 RBI, but also made great strides as a contact hitter. He cut down significantly on his strikeouts (only 21 in 212 at-bats), going 66 at-bats in one stretch without fanning.

Along with his friend and Georgia power hitter, Charlie Condon, the nation’s home run leader with 35, both are projected to be high picks in the MLB draft. Many have Condon going No. 1 (Cleveland Guardians) or No. 2 (Cincinnati Reds), with Caglianone to the Colorado Rockies in the third slot.

It doesn’t hurt Caglianone that he comes from the Tampa Plant pipeline, which has produced Gator major-leaguers Kyle and Preston Tucker and Mets’ slugger Pete Alonso, along with Hall of Famer Wade Boggs.

Caglianone might well become the highest draft pick from talent-rich Hillsborough County, surpassing No. 5 picks Kyle Tucker (2015), a two-time All-Star outfielder with the Houston Astros, and former Cy Young award-winning pitcher Dwight Gooden.

But the burning question remains about how MLB teams will use Caglianone’s two-way skill set. Even those who watch him closely don’t agree on that issue.

The scout wonders about his velocity dropping, something he noticed from clocking Caglianone in the fall and then again late in the spring season.

“I think he could maintain his velocity if he was just pitching, but playing first base over 162 games takes its toll,” said the scout.

Braun has a different view of his former player. He sees him as a first baseman, while excelling more as a closer than a starting pitcher, saying: “I don’t think being a starter is worth the risk of him having Tommy John surgery again. If I had him [in MLB], I’d pay for a right-handed closer and use Jac interchangeably with him in the eighth and ninth innings.”

O’Sullivan refrains from any such projections. He raves more about Caglianone’s personal qualities than his baseball skills.

“The thing most impressive about Jac is he’s turned into the best teammate I could have ever imagined,” said O’Sullivan. “It would be easy for a player like him to go into his own world and worry just about himself, get selfish. He’s never done that. From start to finish, he cares as much about others' success as his own.

“Yes, he’s got that one quality all great hitters have, the hand-eye [coordination]. His best days are still ahead of him, but I don’t know how good he can be. I don’t know what his ceiling is.”

Nobody knows. That’s part of what will make the baseball future of Jeffrey Alan “Jac” Caglianone so fascinating to watch.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette 

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Florida's Jac Caglianone is closest thing college baseball has to Shohei Ohtani