ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jac Caglianone was facing Oklahoma State as a member of the Florida Gators in the NCAA baseball tournament at this time a year ago.

On Tuesday night, the sixth overall pick of the 2024 amateur draft was batting sixth in the Kansas City Royals’ lineup as the designated hitter and facing the St. Louis Cardinals in his major league debut.

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“I’ve been dreaming this day ever since I could really kind of comprehend the idea of being a professional baseball player,” Caglianone said. “I’m super excited.”

The 22-year-old Caglianone hit .319 with nine home runs and 43 RBIs in 38 games with Triple-A Omaha after playing the first 12 games of the season with Double-A Northwest Arkansas — living up to the lofty expectations the Royals had when they drafted him.

“We were really excited when he got to us,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo recalled. “What we didn’t know is, how long does it take? You never know how long it’s going to take, and if it took one year or two years, as long as he becomes a good major league player, we’d be fine with it.

“So, there was no real need, coming into this year, to see him up in ’25, but he went out and did what you want players to do.”

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Kansas City is looking for an offensive boost after entering play with a major league-worst 34 home runs and having scored 194 runs, tied with Pittsburgh for the second-fewest in the majors.

Caglianone’s new big league teammates, however, aren’t looking for him to be a hero.

“Where I would caution him is like he’s not a savior to this offense, nor should he think he think he is, nor should anybody think he is because that’s super unfair,” Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said. “He needs to come into this lineup and be his best self because his best self is what helps us the most, not him trying to do too much or to try to save the offense.”

Caglianone’s debut comes a week after the Royals recalled his former teammate outfielder John Rave from Omaha, where he was hitting .301 with nine homers and 17 steals in 44 games.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB