How George Brett and Jac Caglianone connected over hitting tips — and a card
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- George Brett advised Jac Caglianone to focus on hitting the ball hard, not far.
- Caglianone kept notebooks with hitting wisdom from teammates and predecessors.
- Caglianone was resurgent in 2026 after a distressing 2025 season marked by anger.
As the May 4 victory vibes in the Royals’ clubhouse faded toward facing the next day, Jac Caglianone stood in front of his locker in the dwindling room, processing the night and some last questions.
Much as he relished the serendipity of smacking a 421-foot homer with an exit velocity of 104.2 mph on “Jac Caglianone Blazin’ Bat” bobblehead night, Caglianone appreciated something else even more: the how and why of his fourth home run in 12 games.
In a broad sense, his resurgent 2026 reflects a mindset forged through a distressing 2025 rookie season in which he at times felt lost and quick to anger ... and spiraled. So much so that he dedicated considerable offseason time to the psychological aspects of the game.
In addition to determining “your mental health dictates your reality,” as he told me recently, the anticipated phenom in the making came to realize something else that night.
“It’s never good to try and hit homers,” he said, his smile turning to a laugh as he went on. “I learned that the wrong, like, hard way.”
Then he casually added, “George says it the best: ‘Hit it hard, not far.’”
That would be Royals legend and National Baseball Hall of Famer George Brett, who as of Friday will turn 50 years older than the 23-year-old Caglianone.
Nonetheless, Brett enjoys a certain wavelength and harmony with the emerging prospect the Royals expect to be a pillar of their future.
They’ve connected at least since spring training 2025, when Caglianone became the rare Royals rookie invited to big-league camp. He was such an instant sensation that Brett last year recalled even opposing players leaning on the dugout railing to watch him.
In the middle of all that, though, one of the ways the earnest Caglianone stayed grounded was by filling notebooks with the wisdom of both those around him and those who preceded him — such as Alex Gordon and Brett.
Those notebooks feature substantial advice, notes and memorable quotes, likely including that aforementioned one by Brett and another of his favorites: “Try easier.”
So I figured it would be interesting to ask Brett about their relationship on Monday at the Joe McGuff ALS Golf Classic at the Nicklaus Golf Club at Lionsgate in Overland Park.
Alongside as ever was Tom Watson, who like Brett has been fundraising and trying to create awareness of ALS for decades, in the name of close friends who died from the evil disease.
Also like Brett, Watson is a major fan of the Royals. And he chimed in right behind Brett when I mentioned Caglianone invoking that hard-not-far mentality the other night.
“That’s one of the things I’ve told him,” Brett said.
As if on cue, Watson pointed to the example of the left-handed-hitting Caglianone’s double in the left-center gap the night before. At 112 mph, Watson said with a smile.
“With overspin,” he added. “Right past” the outfielder.
No doubt conscious of Brett’s frustrations during his two-month stint as hitting coach for the Royals in 2013, a duty Brett once told me was “the worst job in baseball” because players so seldom took his suggestions, Watson asked Brett if Caglianone is “actually one who would listen to you.”
Watson likely anticipated a favorable answer: Last year at spring training, he was struck by Caglianone’s “manners” and infectious smile.
Brett said Caglianone was indeed one to listen, though he playfully added, “Now, I don’t know what happens when he walks 20 feet away.”
More seriously, though, Brett elaborated on the apparent connection between them.
Over the winter, for instance, Brett received some baseball cards to sign as part of a contract he has with one of the companies.
Sometimes, they’re cards of just himself. Other times, maybe he’s with Bobby Witt Jr. or Bo Jackson.
In this case, he opened up the package to see he was on a card with Caglianone.
Laughing that Brett-storyteller laugh of his as he retold it, Brett called Caglianone right away.
When Caglianone asked him how he was, Brett said, “‘Jac, I’ve arrived. I’ve arrived in this world.’”
The puzzled Caglianone asked Brett what he was talking about.
“‘I’ve signed a card you’ve already signed,’” Brett remembered saying. “‘I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven.’”
A somewhat sheepish Caglianone, who is nothing if not respectful, said something along the lines of: “Imagine what I felt when I saw that you hadn’t signed it yet. Why am I on a card with this guy?”
But he needn’t have fretted over how Brett viewed that.
Because he’s a fan of the kid and his game.
Not unlike the way Brett has described Witt and Jackson’s plate appearances as must-see moments, he calls Caglianone “one of those guys” he’ll fend off distractions to lock in on.
Much the same as that first spring training.
In between, Caglianone had a year of struggles that he seems to be harnessing now.
“It was a bad year, but when he came up, he hit the ball hard,” Brett said. “He just didn’t get any luck. Then he started pressing. … When you look up at the scoreboard, and you see your average is .180, you want to get to .200.
“But you’re not going to get there in one night. He was trying to go to .250 in one night. And he just started pressing and pressing and pressing. And more pressing.”
For a lot of reasons, Caglianone has worked through a good measure of that tendency now ... with at least some help from embracing some Brett-isms.
Whether by way of his own terms through mental training or packaged as Brett might put it:
“‘Last year is dead and gone ...’” Brett said he told Caglianone. “‘You’re going to have your ups and downs. You can’t let your downs get you down.’”
Not to mention you should keep trying easier … and looking to hit the ball hard instead of far.
The stuff that could carry him a distance.