Jac Caglianone has 14 home runs this season — and he's about to add a whole lot more.
The Kansas City Royals slugger will participate in this Monday's Home Run Derby at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, MLB announced on Wednesday.
Caglianone joins New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice and Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero in the field. He is the first Royals player to hit in the derby since Bobby Witt Jr., in 2024.
The 23-year-old lefty is in the midst of his first full big-league season, carrying a .455 slugging percentage over 85 games. He first came up to MLB last season when he was considered a prodigious power-hitting prospect.
Now, he'll get to show off that power in a new derby format.
MLB has decided to eliminate a similar clock from its Home Run Derby this summer. Each hitter will have 20 swings in the first round of this year’s contest. The change coincides with a switch in broadcaster to Netflix from ESPN, which had televised the event since 1994.
Any player who homers on his 20th swing will keep on swinging until he doesn’t connect for home run. The top four hitters advance, with the distance of the longest homer being used as the tiebreaker if necessary.
--with files from The Associated Press
1:05