2024 MLB Draft: Florida Gators star Jac Caglianone selected No. 6 overall by Kansas City Royals

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Image Credit: UAA

Florida Gators superstar two-way player Jac Caglianone on Sunday was selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals on Sunday night. He tied as the fourth-highest drafted player in program history.

Caglianone became the seventh Florida player to go among the top seven picks in the MLB Draft and the second in as many years after outfielder Wyatt Langford was chosen No. 4 overall by the Texas Rangers in 2023. He’s also the highest-drafted Gators first baseman ever, edging Matt LaPorta, who went No. 7 to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007.

UF has now amassed 20 first-round picks in the traditional draft.

Caglianone slugged 75 career home runs at Florida, including 68 over the last two campaigns, sitting alone as the all-time leader in program history. His 35 homers in 2024 were the most across a single season in program history and two off the one-year record in the BBCOR era.

Cags ended his career with the eight-most homers in college baseball history and more than anyone who began his collegiate career this century. He was named a back-to-back unanimous All-America first team selection and the 2024 John Olerud Two-Way Player.

Playing first base when not pitching, Caglianone batted .419 and slugged .875 this season with a .544 OBP and 1.419 OPS. Just as impressively, he cut his strikeouts in half year over year only getting fanned just 26 times compared to 58 in the 2023 campaign. His 35 homers and stellar hitting this past year came despite being walked 58 times, more than three times as much as the year prior (17).

Capable as a pitcher, Caglianone worked hard playing both ways for the Gators, but he will almost certainly stay off the mound as a professional. He went 12-6 in two seasons with a 4.55 ERA across 34 starts in which he struck out 1.15 batters per inning and walked 0.71 per three outs. Beyond that, his velocity notably decreased during his junior season.

Shortstop Colby Shelton and right-handed pitcher Brandon Neely are among as many as six Florida players who could be drafted by the time the event concludes Tuesday afternoon. The Gators will also have a number of incoming high school signees eligible to be selected out of its top-10 recruiting class.