KANSAS CITY -- The Royals have been searching for ways to improve their offense for 2026, both from a personnel standpoint and a procedural standpoint. They believe that their core hitters -- Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, Maikel Garcia and Salvador Perez -- will carry the bulk of run production, and they’ve added pieces to lengthen the lineup in outfielders Isaac Collins and Lane Thomas. The Royals feel better about their offense after those moves but won’t stop searching for ways to upgrade throughout the rest of the offseason.
Whatever the roster looks like next year, an internal solution might rest on the shoulders of two 22-year-olds: Top prospect Carter Jensen, who ranks No. 39 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list, and former top prospect Jac Caglianone (who graduated from prospect status last year) will get opportunities to play and establish themselves in 2026. Caglianone will again get time in right field and Jensen will serve as the backup catcher to Perez in addition to getting at-bats at DH.
“One of the reasons we’re pretty optimistic about the team is because of Jac and this being his second year in the Major Leagues, along with Carter,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. “Those two swing the bats like we know they’re capable of swinging, our offense already looks a lot different.”
Caglianone and Jensen have the power to change a game with one swing. Caglianone’s raw power is tremendous, while Jensen combines his power with the ability to get on base and has impressed throughout the Minor Leagues with his plate discipline.
The risk is in their youth, which is the reason the Royals won’t want to put all the pressure on them and are searching for other bats to help. Most young players go through challenges as they settle in, and the Royals will want to protect both themselves and the player when that happens. After dominating in the Minor Leagues, Caglianone struggled with Kansas City following his promotion in June. He hit just .147 with a .485 OPS in his first 41 games, missed about a month with a hamstring strain and finished the season with a .157/.237/.295 slash line across 62 total games.
“Last year was a tough year for him,” Picollo said. “I also think about how much we threw at him, from Double-A to Triple-A to the big leagues. Playing right field. There were a lot of things that were just not normal for him last year. It’s why we believe he’s going to figure this thing out. What we don't know is how quickly he figures things out. But the only way he’s going to get better is by facing Major League pitchers. He’s a huge part of our team, our future, and he’s got to get those at-bats somehow. He’s got to play. How much he plays, it’s really going to be dictated by how he’s performing.”
The Royals, Picollo said, aren’t in a position where they can give at-bats to their young players for an extended period of time to figure things out because they’re trying to win now. Performance matters. But the Royals also believe Caglianone and Jensen can perform.
Jensen fared better in his first stint in the Majors; it was only 20 games, but he hit .300 with a .941 OPS and walked at a 13% clip compared to a 17.4% strikeout rate. By the end of the season, Jensen was playing every day and catching more, showing the Royals he can handle the pitching staff and be an asset behind the plate.
“He’s a sponge when it comes to the game calling, the processes we have in place,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “That’s going to be great from him to continue to learn, and from Salvy. … We have high hopes for him, obviously, to be a big part of what we do, whether that’s behind the plate or offensively. As far as playing time, I think in a perfect world -- [for] Salvy, I don’t know an exact number, but we need to utilize his bat as much as his catching. Hopefully to be able to keep him fresh, Carter can handle a decent workload.”
Jensen committed to playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic shortly after the All-Star break this year, without knowing that the end of his season would be a whirlwind of a month that included his Major League debut. He hit .207 with a .351 on-base percentage across 10 games, but the experience was invaluable for him.
“There were a lot of challenges that I had to learn how to overcome,” Jensen said. “You’re in a foreign country. I don’t speak the best Spanish. Different food. Different routine. It was a good learning experience because I learned to do what I can and make the best with what I have in a certain situation. Now I have something extra going into next year in the big leagues.”
What Jensen and Caglianone have is the belief from the organization that they can be a crucial piece of this offense. Now it’s a matter of seeing that belief become reality.