Royals celebrated Jac Caglianone’s homer with silent treatment. Then, he hit another
Jac Caglianone said it felt like an eternity.
Meanwhile, Bobby Witt Jr. struggled to hold in his excitement. And somewhere across the dugout, Salvador Perez was lurking with a special surprise.
For the Kansas City Royals stars, it was baseball in its purest form. But Caglianone wasn’t in on the joke.
He was still circling the bases when he was met with one the oldest rituals in the sport: the silent treatment.
“Yeah, it felt like forever,” Caglianone said postgame. “I picked up on it after I gave all the coaches there a high five. Nobody was really moving, so I was like, ‘It’s going to happen.’ Didn’t really know when, but it’s cool to see everybody come around.”
On Thursday, Caglianone hit his first career home run against the Texas Rangers. He swung out of the strike zone and crushed a 95.5 mph fastball. He tomahawked the pitch into the Rangers’ bullpen as the Royals took a 3-0 lead.
“I didn’t realize until I went back to the video how far up I got him,” Caglianone said. “Off the bat, I wasn’t sure and I was booking it. I saw Adolis (Garcia) and Evan (Carter) look like they had a good bead on it. I just booked it out of the box and thankfully it went out.”
Caglianone registered his first homer against left-handed reliever Jacob Latz. Later, he added his second home run against fellow lefty Robert Garcia. In the process, Caglianone became the fourth Royal and the first since Mark Quinn in 1999 to hit first two career homers in the same game.
Witt was all smiles postgame. He said the team orchestrated the silent treatment with a collective agreement.
“We all wanted to do something fun,” Witt said.
And it was well worth it.
Caglianone pretended to give high fives to his teammates. Then, he was swarmed by guys and received a big hug from Perez. Caglianone waited 14 games to hit a home run and felt the experience was something he would never forget.
“It’s crazy, you know,” Caglianone said. “I said it from day one, I grew up watching (Perez), so to be able to hit behind him and to be able to have him be an older mentor, it’s great.”
The Royals gave Caglianone a day off on Wednesday.
It was a chance for him to reset and view the game from a different perspective. Despite not playing, Caglianone admitted it was beneficial to really zero in on his preparation.
“I told myself that I wasn’t going to swing,” Caglianone said of his off day plans. “And I lied. I got here early and hit a little bit with (Royals hitting coach Alex Zumwalt). And once the game came around, it was different. I’m not used to doing that, but I’m thankful for it and thankful for that mental reset. It was different for sure, but focused on being a good teammate and cheering all the guys on.”
The additional swings were helpful. Caglianone hit two of the seven Royals homers during the series.
“You knew it was going to happen, you just didn’t know when,” Witt said. “Salvy always says, ‘It’s like grapes, homers always come in bunches.’ And so it was great to see him do that. I know there was probably a little monkey on his back and (he) got that off. Now, he’s ready to go.”
The Royals swept the Rangers in Arlington for the first time since 2003. The club continues a six-game road trip against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Friday night.
And Caglianone will look to add to his home run total moving forward.
“I got a nice little relief right there,” Caglianone said of his first multi-homer game.
