Caglianone's power has never been hard to find, but his better choices with two strikes are giving the Royals a more complete hitter.
Jac Caglianone did not need a perfect count to hurt one of baseball's best pitchers Monday night.
Down 0-2 against Tarik Skubal, he stayed on a slider and drove it out at 110.8 mph, turning a defensive at-bat into a two-run homer against one of the best pitchers in baseball.
Kansas City still lost 6-5 to the Dodgers, so the swing did not pay off.
Caglianone still gave the Royals something they can use because he beat a good pitch without leaving the strike zone to do it.
Before the Swing
Caglianone explained the thought behind his two-strike approach without turning it into a complicated hitting lesson when he said, “Just trying to shrink the zone.”
He finished 2-for-4 with three runs driven in, while the homer extended his hit streak to nine games.
The better sign for Kansas City is that he refused to follow the slider farther away.
Skubal allowed three runs over five innings, Caglianone didn't collect damage against a tired middle reliever, and he did not need the count to swing back in his favor before trusting what he could handle.
Pitchers Will Test Him
Caglianone entered the season as a popular breakout choice because his power can change a game in one swing.
The concern was whether major league pitchers could use that aggression against him, especially once they moved ahead and made the strike zone look wider.
His strikeout rate since the All-Star break had fallen to 14.8 percent through Monday, and he was batting .417 in August.
It is a short stretch, though his two-strike at-bats now look planned instead of rushed.
The Royals should care more about that decision process than the August average because it gives Caglianone something he can repeat after the hits slow down.
The next test is whether he keeps the same shape when pitchers attack him inside early, then move away once they get two strikes.
Caglianone does not need to shorten his swing until the power disappears.
He needs to decide which part of the plate he will own, accept that some close pitches may be called strikes and keep his hands ready for the mistake that eventually returns.
The adjustment also connects to the calmer setup he discussed in spring.
He still swings hard, though the effort now arrives on pitches he can drive rather than on every pitch that might touch the plate.
Kansas City Needs This Version
The Royals have seen teammates show growing trust in Caglianone, and that trust changes where his at-bats sit in the lineup.
Caglianone will strike out plenty, and Kansas City will learn more from whether he keeps the zone small in the following at-bat instead of chasing the next pitch away.
